HBO’s post-Game of Thrones series show no shortage of ambition. Along with taking a fresh stab at adapting Alan Moore’s Watchmen graphic novel, the premium cable network (in conjunction with BBC One and New Line Cinema) will attempt to captivate audiences by bringing author Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy to life, after a 2007 film, The Golden Compass (starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Eva Green) wasn’t exactly a smash hit in theaters. However, if HBO can successfully endear people to CGI dragons, one can expect that they can do the same for bears, owls, leopards, and rabbits, all while building a new world that also suggests mysteries from the North.
After an initial teaser and SDCC trailer, this new trailer focuses less on the human dynamics of the series and more on the eye candy: the CGI creatures. It also helps that, in this trailer, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes a furious, several-stories-tall creature as “a good bear,” which might be accurate for his character but not for several other people in that same scene. James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, and Dafne Keen are also along for the imaginative-fiction ride, and here’s an official synopsis:
[The show] follows Lyra, a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets Will, a determined and courageous boy. Together, they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living — and the dead — in their hands.
His Dark Materials will debut on Monday, Nov. 4 on HBO.
