Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is one of my favourite book series and as a wannabe filmmaker, adapting the trilogy would be one of my dream projects. So, I will propose how I would envision His Dark Materials as a film trilogy.
Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass in America) was originally published in 1995 to great acclaim and won the Carnegie Medal. In 2007 it was voted the best Carnegie Media winner. The follow-up novels were equally acclaimed and The Amber Spyglass, the final book in the trilogy won many awards including the Whitbread Book of the Year prize. The trilogy came third in the BBC’s Big Read survey. The trilogy was a big, ambitious story, that spanned across the multiverse, had a unique setting with Lyra’s world, and told a story about two youngsters getting thrust into the battle to save the multiverse, free will, and all of reality. They were rich, engaging novels that I highly recommend.
The obvious issue with a film adaptation of His Dark Materials is the series has already been adapted twice. Once as a film that was met with a mixed critical reception and weak box-office numbers, and a TV series for the BBC and HBO. The TV series was better received and had a fanbase, especially amongst a young female adult audience, but it had its issues. It suffered from slow pacing because of the TV format, made changes to the story and setting seemingly for the sake of it, and suffered from dwindling audience numbers. The third season was dumped on the BBC iPlayer and HBO Max, even though it was the best season.
This means that any new adaptation isn’t forthcoming. It would take 10 years at least before another adaptation would be attempted and it will probably be longer. There’s a question on whether the series is unadaptable. However, I believe a film adaptation of the trilogy could be a cinematic masterpiece. There have been many numbers that have been adapted multiple times. There was an animated version of Lord of the Rings before we got the Peter Jackson trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia has also been adapted numerous times for film and TV and Warner Brothers is planning to readapt Harry Potter as a streaming series. The best example to follow is the Dune franchise since there was an infamous film adaptation in 1984, adapted for TV by the Sci Fi Channel in the early 2000s, and the best-received version was Denis Villeneuve’s duology. There is hope.
The big question would be how to adapt the books as a film trilogy. The first place to start is the story. The best way to think of the books is they are a gradual escalation and expansion. Northern Lights/The Golden Compass was all set in Lyra’s world and the story for Lyra was a quest to rescue her friend. The Subtle Knife expanded the setting to the multiverse and showed the story from multiple perspectives and showed more threats. The Amber Spyglass can be seen as The Return of the King of the series as Will and Lyra go to the Land of the Dead, like Frodo and Sam go to Mordor, just as the forces of good and evil enter a final battle. I would aim to make a film trilogy as faithful as possible since it is the story and world I fell in love with.
One of His Dark Materials’ most unique features was Lyra’s Victorian-style world. It made it stand out in the fantasy genre which was usually set in either Medieval Worlds or contemporary times. The TV series missed this point by making Lyra’s world an Art Deco 1930s setting with some blatant fascist imagery. Otto Bathurst, one of the directors of the TV show claimed this was done to modernise the story. This was irrational to me since one of the reasons I loved the first novel was its Victorian-style setting. Oxford was a gothic city, London was the big smoke, and it was an industrial world of factories, steam trains, and airships. A small detail I liked in the novels was that Lyra’s world was so patriarchal that girls and women only wore dresses or skirts. When Lyra was offered an outfit with trousers in The Subtle Knife she refused, and that despite her being a rough-and-tumble toyboy.
If I got to make a His Dark Materials film trilogy I would instruct my crew (especially the cinematographer, art director, and costume designer) to study Victorian-era paintings and art. They could use the contrast of the grandeur of Oxford’s halls and ceremonies, to the poverty of people on the streets. There would be contrasts between classical buildings, the natural world, and the encroaching Industrial Revolution. The Victorian era saw plenty of paintings based on mythology and antiquity which would be useful for a creative team when making The Amber Spyglass. They could be inspired by The Laments of Icarus by Herbert James Draper, and John Martin’s The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum (technically not a Victorian painting but was painted in the 19th century). Phillip Pullman was partly influenced by the works of William Blake and a creative team could look at his paintings for when His Dark Materials turns more biblical.
Tonally and visually I have a few references. My one-line pitch would be a ‘live-action Studio Ghibli fantasy.’ Studio Ghibli hardly needs an introduction: they are one of the greatest animation studios and have made numerous classics in their name. The works of Hayao Miyazaki would be a particularly strong influence since many of his films have been fantasy-based and focused on strong young female characters. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle would be strong influences, and visually, Howl’s Moving Castle would be the closest to how I envisioned Lyra’s world.
Another influence would be Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Avatar: The Last Airbender was a fantasy story that focused on young characters who had to travel the world with one member of the party having the fate of the world on his shoulders. The Legend of Korra was the sequel series and saw big technological changes. It was set in a 1930s-style world and mixed technologies and imagery from that time with fantasy elements.
The final influence is Lord of the Rings. The Peter Jackson film trilogy is considered the gold standard for epic fantasy, for good reason, since there were great, entertaining films that honoured the source materials. Jackson was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels and respected them, and any filmmaker who handles His Dark Materials would need to do the same. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy influence would extend to the production since those films were filmed back-to-back. This would be a high-risk strategy but there would be benefits since back-to-back filming saves on production costs, and it would be required since Lyra and Will are 12/13 and any delays risk the actors aging out of the roles.
His Dark Materials was a dark story. It was about a multiverse spanning war, child experimentation, religious suppression, and deicide. Lyra saw children being severed from their souls, there was a world that suffered an infestation of soul-sucking monsters, Will and Lyra went to the Land of the Dead and Deicide. Any adaptation would need to embrace these dark ideas and themes, but there also needs to be a sense of wonder and grandeur. Lyra was excited that she was going on a quest. Lyra’s world has dæmons, clans of witches, and a kingdom of armour-clad polar bears. Lyra was a fun character because she was a troublemaker with a knack for lying and storytelling, but also had a great sense of morals and compassion. Alisha Weir’s performance in Matilda the Musical felt close to what Lyra Belacqua should be. Instead of being a story that felt detached and distant, His Dark Materials should be a character-driven story with a grand background, a sense of wonder, and has potential for great action and battle sequences.
His Dark Materials was overt with its atheist themes. Lyra’s world was dominated by the Magisterium, a thinly veiled stand-in for the Catholic Church, most of the villains worked for the Magisterium in some form, and Lord Asriel was rebelling against The Kingdom of Heaven. The Golden Compass film failed partly because the filmmakers toned down those themes and tried to appease the religious audience, an audience that couldn’t be appeased. A filmmaker would need to embrace themes whilst also telling a great fantasy story. I would follow the example set by Bong Joon-ho since he’s a filmmaker who made incredibly entertaining films whilst filling them with political themes and ideas. Even people who don’t agree with Bong’s political outlook can still enjoy his films since they’re so good.
The TV series did make some major changes from the source materials. Some were understandable since there were budgetary reasons like Iorek Byrnison fighting a group of villagers instead of a battle between an army of bears and a village. The TV series also expanded on the material by showing the internal politics of the Magisterium, having Lee Scorseby meet Mrs. Coulter, and giving a more detailed look at Gyptian culture. Some changes did work for the better like John Parry being killed by a random soldier instead of a scorned lover, Will needing to help reforge the knife, the knife resisting cutting a portal into the Land of the Dead, and Asriel’s torture of Alarbus gave his war against The Authority more urgency. However, other changes felt arbitrary, like the setting to the 1930s, making Lee Scoresby a more light-hearted character, and having Ruta Skadi mercy kill the Tortured Witch instead of Serafina Pekkala. It felt like the writers wanted to make changes because they felt like it, not because they would make the story better for a different format. The extended nature of the TV series meant it dragged the story out. The His Dark Materials Trilogy told a complex story in a complex multiverse but there were also compelling page-turners, they moved at a good pace and a film trilogy would need to do the same.
The TV series did cut out some major scenes from the book and there are a few I would put back in a film adaptation. One scene that was drastically altered in both adaptations was the discovery of The Lost Boy. This event was one of the most tragic in Northern Lights where Lyra and Iorek discover a boy who was tortured and escaped from Bolvangar, the Magisterium’s secret facility that experimented on children. Tony Makarios was severed from dæmon (lost his soul) and hid in a small village whilst clutching a fish. This moment foreshadowed the horrors of Bolvangar, that losing dæmon was the worst to happen to a person in Lyra’s world, showed the trauma and desperation someone would experience if they lost their dæmon, and the villagers and Gyptians were horrified by the boy. Lyra showed her compassion during this scene because she was willing to help Tony and she told off the villagers who tried to take away Tony’s fish.
There are two scenes from the Land of the Dead I would include in a film adaptation. The first scene would be when Lyra, Will, and the Gallivespians encounter a frog rolling around in pain and the group debates whether they should put it out of its misery. The other scene would be an emotional one, the moment when Lyra finally finds Roger and they attempt to hug each other but can’t since Roger was a spirit.
The final episode of the series did miss out on Lyra and Will trying to find a way to stay together after Xaphania told the pair they had to return to their own worlds. The TV series’ logic was showing the pair being willing to sacrifice their love and happiness because they were selfless characters. However, I am of the view they needed to plead with Xaphania because they had an arduous journey, and their potential reward and happiness were taken away. They’re young and realise the love they have for each other, and their sacrifice should be a hard realisation. This was His Dark Materials’ equivalent of “The Scouring of the Shire.”
As a film trilogy, His Dark Materials has some great potential for dramatic throughlines. The first involves the taboo with dæmons. In Lyra’s world it was unacceptable for a person to touch another person’s dæmon: it’s the great taboo. I would add a little scene showing a child getting told off for trying to take another dæmon, so it’s established how bad it is when a scientist captures Lyra by grabbing her dæmon. Then in The Subtle Knife, Will breaks the taboo after Pan tries to conform the boy after he gets injured. This would be a more intimate moment since Will literally touches Lyra’s soul.
The other throughline involves Lyra’s ability to lie. In the first book, Lyra’s lying and storytelling got her out of trouble, like when she convinced Iofur Raknison that she was Iorek Brynison’s dæmon so she could even the odds for her friend. But as the story progresses Lyra’s lying becomes less effective. In The Subtle Knife Lyra slipped up when she was questioned by two Special Branch officers and the Harpies attacked Lyra when she tried to lie in The Land of the Dead. It would result in Lyra having to make a deal with The Harpies to ensure the salvation of the dead.
A His Dark Materials film trilogy would be a high-risk project. The books don’t have the cultural significance of Lord of the Rings or Dune and it would require an A-List director like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve who would experience little oversight from executives. However, the story is a rich fantasy multiverse with great characters and themes that could engage and entertain an audience if done right.
