20 Fantasy Adaptations That Could Be Bigger than Game of Thrones
By Jenn Reid
14. His Dark Materials
The Books: His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
The Story: His Dark Materials follows two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they travel through parallel dimensions. There is magic and witches and armoured polar bears, but the series is most beloved for its more mature themes. There are elements of philosophy and religion, most notably an allegory for Christianity. Many see Pullman’s trilogy as a sort of re-telling of Paradise Lost and original sin, something which has made the series very unpopular with Christians and the Catholic Church in particular.
The series currently consists of three books, Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Pullman has been working on a companion trilogy, The Book of Dust. The first book will take place before the events in the main trilogy, and the rest will be set after. The first book is set to be released in October 2017.
The Adaptation: That 2007 movie never happened, right? Right. Well, it will soon be even further eradicated from our memory thanks to an upcoming BBC adaptation! The BBC and New Line Cinema announced the series back in 2015, and while there are have been very few updates I am cautiously optimistic it will happen. A high budget BBC miniseries is usually the best way to tell a story, anyway.