His Dark Materials is a 2019 epic fantasy series that follows the journey of Lyra, a remarkable young girl who sets out to rescue her best friend Roger from a dangerous secret organization. Based on acclaimed author Philip Pullman’s trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, His Dark Materials Season One premiered on HBO November 4, 2019, with one new episode set to be released every Monday at 9 p.m. (EST)
The premier episode of HBO’s His Dark Materials opens with the scrappy and mischievous Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) romping around the castle-like Jordan College, careening through its bustling kitchens, crowded laundry rooms, and hallowed halls, with her best friend Roger on her heels. Their daemons (the animal manifestations of their souls) reluctantly dragged into the gleeful chaos.
The cheeky orphan doesn’t know she’s at the heart of a prophecy, and, like the other, seemingly unremarkable orphans that came before her (we’re looking at you Harry Potter!) Lyra is destined for great, and terrible, things. Her best friend Roger (Lewin Lloyd) seems content to accept his lot in life, serving hot breakfasts to the scholars at Jordan College, scrubbing up messes, and other typical orphaned kitchen boy duties.
Lyra though, quick-witted and trouble-making as she is, has had enough of it all. Stowed away at Jordan College as an infant by her uncle, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), under the law of Scholastic Sanctuary, Lyra has known nothing of the world but one of ancient musty textbooks, bland religious lectures, and doddering old codgers harping on about ancient history. She dreams big about the life waiting for her beyond Jordan’s walls. Of tagging along with her intrepid uncle Asriel and traveling the frozen North in search of lost civilizations, armored bears, and the uncharted wilds far beyond the Brytain she’s always known.
So when Asriel returns from one of his Northern expeditions to share his very nearly “blasphemous” findings with the headmaster (and Lyra’s interim guardian) Dr. Carne (Clarke Peters) and his scholars, Lyra is practically euphoric. Toting photograms of his findings Asriel reveals that Dust, a mysterious substance invisible to the naked eye rumored to swirl in the air around adults does exist…and even more so in the far reaches of the North the Dust he encountered, contains an entire hidden city in its seemingly shapeless, ethereal form.
When the episode hits the halfway point, it boldly forges onward with the series’s secondary, more pressing plot. The Gobblers. They were once just the thing of nightmares, of urban legends and cautionary tales whispered about from child to child to conjure up scares. But, when dozens of children are abducted, vanishing from their communities with only a haunting melody hummed by an unseen person, and a suspicious, silvery fox daemon skulking around, linked to their disappearances it becomes impossible to deny that the might just be some truth to the insidious criminal gang.
By the time Dr. Carne gifts Lyra with an exquisite artifact— a golden compass, we’re already immersed and invested in the young heroine’s journey. We learn it’s no mere navigation tool, but is actually an Alethiometer, a forbidden tool with the power to reveal the “truth” to the asker. With the iron fist of the Magisterium ever clenched to knock out “heretics,” it is this secret inheritance that could mean the difference between Lyra fulfilling the prophecy, or befalling upon a grim fate.
Director Tom Hooper known for his decadent and artistic British period films, The King’s Speech, The Danish Girl, and the 2012 adaptation of Broadway’s French Revolution smash hit Les Miserables, helms the first two episodes of His Dark Materials, dusting it with the glitter of his signature cinematic elegance and sophistication. Lyra’s fantastical world is delightfully unrestrained by the confines of time. While it bears great resemblance to our own and is familiar enough to Europe as we know it, it’s technologically antiquated with its zeppelin airships, slide projectors, and old-timey “photograms”. Likewise, the digital animation of the daemons is impressive and convincing, if not a bit jarring to hear human voices come out of the CGI’ed critters at first, especially Lyra’s shapeshifting Pine Marten/Ferret daemon, Pan (Kit Connor), and Lord Asriel’s snow leopard Stelmaria (Helen McCrory)!
His Dark Material’s cast brings leaps and bounds of energy and excitement to the already promising pilot. Young Keen, who showed so much promise in her first role as Wolverine’s fierce and feral little clone Laura Kinney/X-23 in 2017’s Logan infuses her lovable heroine with plenty of wits, nerve, and charm. McAvoy is spectacular, as always, completely commanding the role of Asriel, a man who is fascinating and frightening in his daring (and even dangerous) ambition to discover the truth about Dust, and the final main cast member, the glamorous and mysterious Mrs. Coulter, is enthrallingly brought to screen by the queen of period dramas and British actress extraordinaire, Ruth Wilson.
It’s this combination of lush world-building and a magnificent cast that brings muscle to His Dark Material’s ambitious and fast-paced plot, keeping it sturdy, engaging, and on course.