HBO may have lost ‘Game of Thrones’, but it has another sweeping fantasy on its way to take its place– ‘His Dark Materials’, written by Jack Thorne, based on the book series by Philip Pullman. In this world, all humans have an animal companion called dæmons, which are the manifestations of their souls. (Think “spirit animal.”)
HBO is promoting the series by sending the cast to San Diego Comic-Con, where they were asked what their dæmons would be. Executive producer Jane Tranter replied, “Mine would be a wolf. Wolves are amazing creatures and very much misunderstood, and they’re both fierce and protective.”
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Her fellow EP Jack Thorne declared that he would be a woodpecker. “I am a very anxious person, and I’ve always got something knocking against my head, going, ‘You’ve messed that up!’”
As for the show’s star, Dafne Keen (whom you may remember from ‘Logan’), who plays Lyra Belacqua, she replied, “You know these small tropical monkeys?” To which her co-star Ruth Wilson replied, “You’re monkeyish.” Keen replied, “I am! Not a golden one, though!” Lyra’s dæmon, Pantalaimon, changes into multiple forms, but initially appears as a white ermine.
Wilson plays the villainous Marisa Coulter and described her character saying, “I took the job because I loved her description, which was ‘the cesspit of moral filth,’ and ‘the mother of all evil. I thought, well, I can’t say no to that.” But when it came to her dæmon, she was unable to come up with an answer. Thorne, however, declared her a sphinx.
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Also part of the cast is Lin-Manuel Miranda, who portrays Lee Scoresby, whom Miranda describes as “the Han Solo of this story.” He explained, “It makes no sense that he exists in the same world with these people, except it makes all the sense in the world that he does.”
As for his dæmon?
“Do you remember that rat that dragged the pizza down the subway? I think my dæmon can take care of itself, it’s a New Yorker… I think it’s a pizza subway rat. I’m a New York rat.”
HBO has not announced when ‘His Dark Materials’ will premiere, but it is expected to arrive later this year. There are eight episodes in the first season. It will air on BBC One in the UK. A second season has already been ordered.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
