'His Dark Materials' teasers suggest HBO and BBC show will heed to author Philip Pullman's theological underpinnings from the novels
It is "time to choose a side" as the tagline of the much-hyped BBC One and HBO co-production 'His Dark Materials' says. Will you be one of those who will embrace this new adaptation or will you shake your fists at the show for messing with a beloved classic?
We will have to wait till November 4 to know. But till then, HBO's 'His Dark Materials' official Twitter feed, @daemonsanddust, is a virtual smorgasbord of teaser-heavy promotional material that will leave you drooling. The juiciest among them is the trailer that shows that this TV adaptation will heed its source material's theological underpinnings.
Philip Pullman, a self-described agnostic, has been a popular anti-religious figure who loathes organized religion's emphasis on the Original Sin and the rejection of the material world for the divine afterlife. Clashing with the Christian worldview established in fantasy literature by C. S. Lewis' 'Chronicles of Narnia' and J. R. R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings', Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' was specifically geared to present a subversive interpretation of "the Fall" narrative of the Garden of Eden.
To do so, Pullman inverted the theological message at the heart of John Milton's epic poem 'Paradise Lost', while using Milton's imagery and terms from the poem. In the book trilogy, comprising 'The Golden Compass', 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass', he challenged the tyrannical power of organized religion and the Church through his depiction of 'The Magisterium', which is opposed to any scientific discovery that might challenge its religious doctrines and power.
The trailer for the TV series touches on this when James McAvoy's Lord Asriel talks about how the Magesterium has kept them "on their knees" and "in the dark". His discovery of a "myriad of other worlds" in the North is heretical and prompts the Magesterium official to question Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) about not being able to control Lord Asriel.
We also see the mysterious "alethiometer", a truth-telling device that the College's Master (Clarke Peters) gives to Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) to guide her on her journey. To solve the mystery of the abducted children, she meets aëronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda), the Gyptian leader, Farder Coram (James Cosmo), the witch Serafina Pekkala (Ruta Gedmintas), and of course, Iorek Byrnison, the armored bear, voiced by Joe Tandberg.
While the movie adaptation failed to compress the complex world-building of the books into its runtime, the TV series, which devotes eight episodes to Book 1 - 'The Golden Compass', could remedy that. The trailer shows the show has spent time, effort and money into capturing the complexities of Lyra's world, including the "daemons", the animals that accompany each human, which are the physical manifestations of each person's deepest, innermost self or consciousness, corresponding to our conception of a human soul.
Iorek, the bear, also looks properly fearsome and imposing, thanks to some great use of CGI. The Twitter feed also has the Grammy award-winning and BAFTA nominated composer, Lorne Balfe, previewing some of the music he has composed for the show.
But the real fun comes thanks to the short Q and A segments with Clarke Peters, Dafne Keen and Ruth Wilson answering questions by fans about the show and about shooting the epic narrative. Both Peters and Wilson said they liked meeting "this little clown", referring to Dafne Keen, before joke-strangling her, prompting Keen to say that "being choked by you guys is the best".
Asked to describe their characters, Wilson describes Mrs. Coulter as "enigmatic", Keen calls Lyra "brave", while Peters says the Master, who is a professor, is "smart". Keen loved the story arc of Lyra and "how much she grows and becomes a better person" while Wilson liked playing up the "vicious" side of Mrs. Coulter.
Keen was actually scared of Wilson's portrayal, saying it was the scariest part of filming the series. The cast got along like a house on fire, a camaraderie carried over from the sets, where they would prank each other by throwing hot wax on each other (ouch!) that Wilson said kept getting stuck in her hair and her puppet monkey's mane.
Wilson told a "Lin fan" that Lin-Manuel Miranda would apparently sing to them every day on the makeup bus. There was a quick consensus about the alethiometer being the most coveted object on the show that all three wanted to bring back to our world, though Peters was also interested in the Zeppelins -- the airships used in Lyra's world for long-distance travel.
The Twitter feed also has soundbites from the cast who appeared at the "black carpet" event during the show's global premiere in London October 15. 'His Dark Materials' debuts in the U.S. Monday, November 4 on HBO at 10 p.m., after premiering November 3 on BBC One.