After a long hiatus, the final season of HBO’s His Dark Materials will air in December, according to an HBO press release. The announced premiere date of December 5 was paired with the first trailer for the show’s third season. View the trailer below.
The series is based on Philip Pullman’s trilogy of novels: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. This third season will draw inspiration from the third book. Starring Logan‘s Dafne Keen, the fantasy series explores a world of machines and magic controlled by an extremist religious entity, the Authority, seeking to expand its reign. Keen is Lyra, a young girl who discovers she is part of a prophecy to bring about a higher power that could save humanity. Accompanying Lyra on this journey is Amir Wilson’s (The Letter For The King) Will, a young man with a knife that slices open portals to different dimensions.
Ruth Wilson (The Affair) stars as Lyra’s estranged mother, Mrs. Coulter. A powerful associate of the Authority, Mrs. Coulter’s cruelty simmers when she’s forced to rescue her daughter from a fatal end at the close of the second season. Lyra’s father, Lord Asriel, is played by James McAvoy (Split). The banished intellectual has returned from hiding with an army of all beings to bring a violent end to the Authority.
According to the press release, season three will also star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Oz), Jade Anouka (Cleaning Up), Chipo Chung (The Politician’s Husband), Amber Fitzgerald-Woolfe, Ruta Gedminstas (The Tudors), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (The Split), Will Keen (Mistress of War), Simone Kirby (Notes on Blindness), Jamie Ward (Tyrant), and Simon Harrison (London Has Fallen). The show will also see the return of Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) as the unexpected hero, Lee Scoresby.
The series is a joint venture between BBC One and HBO with Bad Wolf producing in collaboration with New Line Cinema. Executive producers include Pullman, Jack Thorne (How I Live Now), and Tom Hooper (The Danish Girl) along with New Line Cinema’s Carolyn Blackwood (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Deborah Forte (Mortal Engines), and Toby Emmerich (Elvis). They are joined by Bad Wolf’s Jane Tranter (Succession), Dan McCulloch (Torchwood), Joel Collins (Industry), and Julie Gardner (Lady in the Lake). Ben Irving (The Duchess) is attached via BBC One.
The two-episode premiere on Monday, December 5 will be followed by two episodes weekly, concluding the eight-episode season a day after Christmans.
Both seasons of His Dark Materials are available to stream on HBO Max.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat