BBC Announces Cast for ‘His Dark Materials’ TV Mini-Series

Big Budget BBC Fantasy Mini-Series

The BBC is going to be making their biggest budget TV show production yet. This time it is the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’. The series is of course, a trilogy which saw a movie adaptation attempt with The Golden Compass (2007). Although the film adaptation was serviceable and relatively faithful to the first book Northern Lights, the studio did not deem it successful enough to pursue the sequels.

Now over a decade later, technology makes it possible to create the fantasy series in a more affordable fashion. Plus, a TV mini series would better serve to flesh out the story than three 2-hour long movies.

Who is Going to be in This TV Series?

Along with the big budget, this 8-part mini-series is full of familiar names in the entertainment industry. Oscar-winner Top Hooper himself (King’s Speech) will be directing the first two episodes. Plus, Tony and Olivier award winner Jack Thorne is adapting the books to TV.

The lead character Lyra will be played by 13-year old Dafne Keen. She is most well known for playing X-23 in Logan. James McAvoy (professor X in X-men) plays Lyra’s adventurer “uncle” Lord Asriel. Meanwhile, Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair) will be playing Marisa Coulter. Broadway darling Lin Manuel Miranda is also on-board as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby.

Rounding out the cast are Clarke Peters, Anne-Marie Duff, Ariyon Bakare, Ian Gelder, Georgina Campbell and Will Keen, among others.

“The caliber of our cast and directors is a testament to the brilliance of Jack Thorne’s scripts and also the sheer bravura, depth and imagination of Philip Pullman’s original novels,” says executive producer Jane Tranter. “Our determination is to sound every note of the books in a series that will fully explore the many worlds and concepts in Philip’s work.”