‘His Dark Materials’: HBO Sets Premiere Date For Season 2 As Scripts Being Prepped For Potential Season 3

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His Dark Materials will be back with a bang in November as the HBO and BBC big-budget co-production returns for its second season.

HBO will launch the second season of the Bad Wolf-produced adaptation of the Philip Pullman books at 9 p.m. November 16. It will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

This comes as the team behind the series, which includes writer Jack Thorne, are prepping scripts for a possible third season. Although a third run hasn’t been commissioned, the hope on all sides is for it to run for more seasons.

HBO programming chief Casey Bloys told Deadline earlier this year that the first season had performed very well for the network and that he would like to do more. “One of the things that I was hoping for, and the numbers we’re seeing bear this out, it is more of a co-viewing show than we’ve ever had. We don’t have many shows where kids and parents can watch together, and that was the idea with this show and it has done really well.”

The first two seasons of the show essentially are based on Pullman’s Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife. Jane Tranter, who runs Bad Wolf with Julie Gardner, told Deadline that if possible they would like to split the “huge” and “sprawling” third book The Amber Spyglass into two additional seasons.

The second season begins after Lord Asriel has opened a bridge to a new world, and Lyra, distraught over the death of her best friend, follows Asriel into the unknown. In a strange and mysterious abandoned city, she meets Will, a boy from our world who also is 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 searches for Lyra, determined to bring her home by any means necessary.

Season 2 series regulars include Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Amir Wilson, Ariyon Bakare, Andrew Scott, Will Keen, Ruta Gedmintas and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Joining the cast this season are Terence Stamp, Jade Anouka and Simone Kirby.

His Dark Materials is produced by Bad Wolf in association with New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO. Executive producing the series are Jane Tranter, Dan McCulloch, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf; Philip Pullman, Jack Thorne, Tom Hooper; Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood for New Line Cinema; and Ben Irving and Piers Wenger for the BBC.

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