I was browsing HBO Max and stumbled onto His Dark Materials late (it was released in 2019), and I came in blind. A few episodes in, a talking armored bear and a girl reading a golden truth-telling instrument made it click: this is The Golden Compass. That was the 2007 movie with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig that I’d half-forgotten, and that most of Hollywood would rather forget.
Same story, same girl, same bear. The difference is that the series works, and by just about every measure I care about, it’s the far better piece of work.
Two tries at the same book.
Both versions start from Philip Pullman’s trilogy: Northern Lights (published in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Lyra Belacqua is an orphan raised among the scholars of an Oxford college in a world a lot like ours. In her world, however, every person’s soul walks beside them as an animal companion called a daemon. She doesn’t know who her parents are, but she adores her uncle Asriel, even though his interests lie elsewhere. He has little time for her: he is an explorer researching “Dust”—the elusive fabric of the universe- in a world where the Magisterium, a religious order, administers the law, devout and ruthless in its pursuit of power and order.
Dafne Kee (Lyra) frolics about the College with her best and only friend, Roger, and a younger boy who works in the kitchen.
When children start disappearing, Roger is among them. At the same time, Lyra initially agrees to become an intern for the devious Nrs. Coulter — on the promise she’ll travel with her to the north to find her uncle. What she doesn’t know is that she is the central character in the prophecy that drives everyone’s actions; she uncovers a plot by the Magisterium that runs her world. In a fast-paced plot, several plotlines unfold in unison, building to unforeseen twists and turns. The series combines deep character development and evolution with ample action and suspense. If you’re a fan of suspenseful fantasy thrillers, I highly recommend it.
The movie (2007). Chris Weitz wrote and directed it for New Line Cinema on a reported $180 million budget. The cast:
- Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra
- Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter
- Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel
- Sam Elliott as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby
- Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala
- Ian McKellen as the voice of the bear Iorek Byrnison
It looked lavish and won the Oscar for visual effects. It also took $70 million at the U.S. box office and a 42% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s critics’ consensus said it had lost the book’s bite and controversy, leaving impressive visuals “overcompensating for lax storytelling.” The planned sequels were never made.
The series (2019–2022). The BBC and HBO made it with Bad Wolf and New Line: three seasons, one per book, and 23 episodes. Jack Thorne, who co-wrote Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, wrote it, and Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Misérables) directed the opening episodes. The result was a powerful, well-told story.
The cast is the first big win.
Dafne Keen plays Lyra as wild, fierce, and quick to lie her way out of trouble. She isn’t a storybook heroine but a feral kid who has to grow up over three seasons, and you watch her do it.
Ruth Wilson is the reason to watch. Her Mrs. Coulter is terrifying, wounded, and magnetic, often in the same scene. Kidman played the character as an icy glamour figure; Wilson plays a woman at war with her own feelings, and you can’t take your eyes off her.
James McAvoy gives Lord Asriel the arrogance and obsession the part demands. He and Wilson have real heat between them, but the film never has time to build.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is a surprise as Lee Scoresby. He brings warmth and an easy humor to the Texan aeronaut, and he makes the character’s arc land hard.
Around them:
- Amir Wilson as Will Parry, the boy from an alternate world who joins Lyra from the second season
- Andrew Scott as Will’s lost father, John Parry
- Ariyon Bakare as the smooth, dangerous Lord Boreal
- Will Keen as the zealot Father MacPhail
- Simone Kirby as the physicist Mary Malone
- Clarke Peters, James Cosmo and Anne-Marie Duff in supporting roles
It’s deep casting, and nobody is phoning it in.
Better dialogue, because there’s room for it
The film had less than two hours for a dense first book, so its characters mostly explain the plot to each other. The series has eight hours a season. Thorne uses that time to let scenes breathe. Lyra and Iorek have room to build trust. Mrs. Coulter’s conversations with her own daemon, a golden monkey that never speaks, say more than pages of exposition. Will and Lyra’s slow friendship has space to turn into something more.
Better scenes, and the story’s teeth intact
What the movie left out matters most. It cut its own ending and softened the book’s open challenge to religious Authority, and the higher Authority it worships without question. The series keeps both. It follows Pullman into darker, stranger territory: the Magisterium’s experiments on children, the war against the Authority, a trip into the world of the dead. It gives those moments the weight they need. The series also looks beautiful, shot largely in and around Wales and built on what the BBC called its most expensive production ever.
What other critics said
Critics were warmer to the series than to the film, though not unanimous.
When the show premiered, The Hollywood Reporter predicted that “the third time is likely to be the charm” for screen versions of Pullman. The critic also praised the series for doing things the movie never attempted.
Not everyone was won over by the first season. The Skinny called the casting almost flawless, but found the world pretty and too often lifeless.
Reviews of the final season ran the widest:
- For: Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus called it perhaps the show’s most stirring season and a heart-wrenching end. Slate’s Laura Miller wrote that it “finally strikes the right balance.”
- Mixed: TechRadar found the final season uneven but singled out Ruth Wilson for another outstanding performance.
- Against: Paste felt the finale played it slow and safe.
My own view sits with the admirers. The first season takes its time, and the long gap before season three costs it some momentum. But the payoff is real, and the ending earns its tears.
The verdict
I didn’t know I’d already seen this story. I’m glad I watched it again done properly. His Dark Materials takes a book that a $180 million movie couldn’t handle and treats it with patience, nerve, and a cast that’s better nearly from top to bottom. It’s one of the best fantasy series of the streaming era.
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 out of 5)
His Dark Materials (BBC One / HBO, 2019–2022). Three seasons, 23 episodes.
- Based on: the novels by Philip Pullman
- Written by: Jack Thorne
- Directors include: Tom Hooper, Otto Bathurst, Dawn Shadforth, Euros Lyn and Jamie Childs.
- Starring: Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amir Wilson and Andrew Scott
The Golden Compass (New Line Cinema, 2007).
- Written and directed by: Chris Weitz
- Starring: Dakota Blue Richards, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig
