San Diego Comic-Con 2019 was, in some regards, set up to be a final sendoff to one of HBO’s biggest shows and, if things go well, the first real look at what the network hopes to be its next smash hit. A panel for the final season of Game of Thrones may be a highlight on Saturday, but Thursday also gave us a first look at His Dark Materials, which many have longed for since the show was first announced.
We got a teaser of the epic back in March, but the full two minutes that was released on Thursday night gives us a much more in-depth look at what’s to come. The show is a partnership between HBO and the BBC, which means English accents and Game of Thrones-level otherworldly CGI. And the trailer features a character played by James McAvoy warning of a coming enemy.
His Dark Materials is an adaptation of the fantasy novel trilogy by author Philip Pullman. The first novel, Northern Lights, was re-titled The Golden Compass in the United States and was the basis for a 2007 movie. But HBO is hitting the full reset on the series, with McAvoy in the role played by Daniel Craig in the movie. You’ll also see a lot of Dafne Keen, who you might know from Logan. She appears to be the key to all the mysterious things happening.
Children are being “stolen and taken north” and secret organizations are at work. There’s also a bear and other animals that seem to be viewed as peers of the humans in the trailer. And there’s a cat, though this one looks much more like a cat and not whatever Taylor Swift and Co. are up to in another movie trailer that dropped on Tuesday. It’s all a bit mysterious, and that’s kind of the point, but it does look like we’ll know a lot more about what’s up with that armored bear later this year.
