The First Trailer for 'His Dark Materials' is Brief But Exhilarating
The BBC dropped the first trailer for its highly anticipated, star-studded television adaptation of Philip Pullman’s bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy over the weekend, and even though its only thirty seconds long and contains no dialogue, it’s still enough to have even the most casual fan of the novels suitably freaked out.
His Dark Materials takes place in a sort of Victorian alternate reality, where science and magic are impeccably entwined, parallel universes exist, humans walk around with soul-bonded animal familiars and there are all manner of fantastical creatures like witches and armored battle bears.
The story follows a young girl named Lyra Belaqua (played by Logan’s Dafne Keene), who must travel to the Arctic to rescue a friend who has been kidnapped by dark forces abducting children for nefarious purposes. Along the way, she learns some family secrets, and learns more about the mysterious elementary particles called Dust.
(Yes, there’s a lot more than this, but that’s kind of as basic as I can get it for the moment.)
Keene is joined by an all-star ensemble that includes Lin-Manuel Miranda as grizzled aeronaut Lee Scoresby, James McAvoy as the broody Lord Asriel, and Ruth Wilson as the glamorous and thoroughly devious Mrs. Coulter. (Who, by the way, is already my pick for best dressed, if the trailer is anything to go by.)
Watch for yourselves below:
