Game of Thrones is officially over at HBO. Sure, a handful of prequels are currently in development, with one even as far as the pilot production stage, but fans of the hugely popular series will have to wait for whatever it is that the premium cable network has in store for the ever-expanding world of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire adaptations. If you think that they’re simply going to let all those eyeballs cancel their subscriptions in the interim, you’d be mistaken. Hence the new His Dark Materials teaser trailer.
A co-production of New Line Cinema, BBC One, and HBO, His Dark Materials is an adaptation of the fantasy novel trilogy of the same name by author Philip Pullman. The first novel, Northern Lights (re-titled The Golden Compass in the United States), became a 2007 film starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. The series, however, will see Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy in the roles occupied by the former pair. Logan‘s Dafne Keen also stars as Lyra Belacqua, one of the books’ two chief younger characters.
Per an official synopsis from HBO:
[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.
The first episode of His Dark Materials is slated to premiere sometime in late 2019 in the U.S. Despite there being no official word on an exact release date, however, the series has already been renewed for a second season. After all, Pullman has written plenty of material for the showrunners to adapt for television, so Thrones fans should have plenty to look forward to later this year.
