Jopari and Lee Scoresby might both have been killed off in the second season of His Dark Materials, but that hasn’t stopped Andrew Scott and Lin-Manuel Miranda from returning in the final run.
The pair both feature in a segment set in the Land of the Dead, and although the two actors appear in a scene together, Miranda exclusively revealed to RadioTimes.com during production that the stars actually filmed separately due to a scheduling clash.
“I’m reuniting Will with his dad, with John Parry – except John Parry is filming The Talented Mr Ripley in Italy,” the Hamilton creator told us on set. “So I sort of filmed my half of the scene today, and, you know, I think if they can get him out of Italy to film his bit, they’ll film that many months later.
“So it’s a bit of a weird day, actually, because it was sort of like: ‘Here he is – we hope!’”
In the same interview, Miranda also explained how it had been a “joy” to return as Lee Scoresby in the final run – and revealed he was especially glad to learn that his role had been slightly expanded when compared to the books.
“I’m a fan of the books, so I knew that we got a glimpse of him in the Land of the Dead, I just didn’t know how extensive that would be in the TV version,” he said.
“So it’s been really nice, actually, because, you know, in my own journey as Lee, I got to bond really closely with Dafne Keen that whole first season. We were sort of joined at the hip.
“And then I’m just fighting on her behalf all of season 2. But I didn’t get to work with her for like two years. And then, you know, you come back to the Land of the Dead, and then Amir and Dafne are growing up, and they’re really tremendous, phenomenal actors.
“So it’s been wonderful to watch that happen – and have almost the time-lapse of it, really, from my vantage point.”
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.
His Dark Materials season 3 is airing weekly on BBC One and is available as a full series boxset on BBC iPlayer from Sunday 18th December.
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