We’re fast approaching the end of His Dark Materials, with the third and final season expected to air this Autumn – and it sounds as though it will be quite the climax.
VFX supervisor on the show Russell Dodgson and Mrs Coulter star Ruth Wilson both spoke exclusively with RadioTimes.com at the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival last week, where they highlighted the scale of the upcoming season.
Dodgson said: “If you’ve read the book, it’s sort of one of those books where there’s lots of many different things in it where someone jokingly says to you before you film it, good luck with the ___. So for example, there’s so many creatures and so many characters that we have to visualise. And I think just getting your head around the concept of it.”
Wilson agreed, calling the third season “definitely sort of the most ambitious, I think of the three.”
“You have Mulefas and you’ve got so many different worlds to explore,” she continued. “And you’ve got to complete all these storylines. So you’ve got to kind of complete the stories for Lyra, for Mrs Coulter, for Asriel. It’s a huge, actually undertaking and you’re in the midst of doing that.”
Dodgson said that while the team has always talked about the series as a “grounded fantasy”, it “definitely takes a leap when you get into the third season”.
Meanwhile, Wilson called the third season “quite philosophical”, explaining that “it’s Philip’s sort of attempt, it’s him discussing what the whole book is about really, and human consciousness. It’s huge themes and big ideas. So I think a lot of that comes in the third season. That’s quite ambitious for all of us to deal with and to sort of put out there.”
Will Parry actor Amir Wilson previously told RadioTimes.com that the new season is “a lot darker, a lot sadder” and “definitely more emotional”.
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.
His Dark Materials returns to BBC One and HBO this autumn. For more, check out our dedicated Fantasy page or our full TV Guide.
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