Home TV News BBC One/iPlayer Sets November UK Premiere Date For ‘His Dark Materials’ Season 2

BBC One/iPlayer Sets November UK Premiere Date For ‘His Dark Materials’ Season 2

by Dave Elliott

The BBC has announced the UK premiere date for Season 2 of much-anticipated drama His Dark Materials on BBC One and iPlayer.

Based on Philip Pullman’s acclaimed novel series, the drama continues the story of Lyra (Dafne Keen – ‘Logan’, ‘The Refugees’), a brave young woman from another world. After Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) opened a bridge to this new world, and, distraught over the death of her best friend, Lyra follows Asriel into the unknown…

In a strange and mysterious abandoned city, she meets Will (Amir Wilson – ‘The Secret Garden’), a boy from our world who is also running from a troubled past. Lyra and Will learn their destinies are tied to reuniting Will with his father but find their path is constantly thwarted as a war begins to brew around them. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) searches for Lyra, determined to bring her home by any means necessary.

Along with Dafne Keen as Lyra, and Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, Season 2 sees the return of Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby, and Amir Wilson as Will Parry. They are joined by Andrew Scott (‘Sherlock’, ‘Fleabag’) as John Parry, Jade Anouka (‘Turn Up Charlie’) as Ruta Skadi, Simone Kirby (‘Rebellion’, ‘Peaky Blinders’) as Dr. Mary Malone and the legendary Terence Stamp as Giacomo Paradisi.

Notably missing this season is James McAvoy’s Lord Asriel as the character doesn’t feature in ‘The Subtle Knife’ novel on which Season 2 is based. It was revealed in the Comic-Con@Home panel that there was originally a plan to have a standalone episode which would have showed what Asriel had been doing between going through the anomaly at the end of season one and when we see him at the beginning of book three (The Amber Spyglass). That episode was penned by writer Jack Thorne with the blessing of original author Philip Pullman. Sadly, it had to be dropped when filming was shut down due to the pandemic, although it may be added back in at some point in a future season.

The panel also revealed there will be a little ‘Fleabag’ reunion in Season 2, as Phoebe Waller-Bridge has a small voice role on the drama as the dæmon of Andrew Scott’s character. “What’s beautiful to me about the books is the relationship with the dæmons,” he commented. “The relationship is all about companionship, friendship, and loyalty and that’s what I feel about Phoebe in my real life so it’s wonderful that this is happening.” You can watch the full panel here.

His Dark Materials‘ Season 2 premieres Sunday, 8th November 2020 8.10pm on BBC One and iPlayer. The series will premiere Monday, November 16, 2020, on HBO in the USA.

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