Ruth Wilson Talks 'His Dark Materials' At San Diego Comic-Con
For anglophiles of most stripes, the title His Dark Materials will be a familiar one. The first book in the Philip Pullman trilogy, The Northern Lights, was released in the U.K. in 1995. It was then retitled The Golden Compass for American audiences before arriving over here, not unlike the opening Harry Potter book was two years later. Harry Potter is a good comparison to bring up when speaking about these books, as is the A Song of Ice & Fire series that Game of Thrones was based on. All three arrived within two years of each other. Northern Lights published in July of '95, the first ASoI&F novel, A Game of Thrones, in August of '96, and Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone in June of '97. Of the three, only the latter two have caught on in America. But in the U.K., all three series are wildly popular, with His Dark Materials considered the gold standard for modern coming-of-age fantasy.
His Dark Materials hasn't broken big in the U.S. because the first adaptation, the big-screen The Golden Compass, was a flop. Unlike his compatriots in fantasy, Pullman's novels are critical of religious organizations, especially those who would suppress science and knowledge. Producers flinched at releasing something like that in Evangelical America. Now, the BBC and HBO have teamed up to bring a small-screen adaptation to the prestige TV landscape starting in the fall of 2019.
HBO brought the cast of the new series to San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. Actress Ruth Wilson, a PBS favorite, talked about why she was thrilled to be part of the series. Wilson plays the beautiful-but-evil Mrs. Coulter, who becomes a mother figure to the orphaned Lyra (Daphne Keen) after her Uncle Asriel (James McAvoy) takes off for the Arctic.
