As we get set to bid farewell to Game of Thrones this weekend, HBO has shared the trailer for what it hopes will be their next hit fantasy series: His Dark Materials. The show is based on Philip Pullman‘s great series of novels which began with 1995’s Northern Lights, retitled The Golden Compass in the U.S. which then became a not-very-good 2007 film starring Nicole Kidman. There was too much going on in the books, and too many complex, adult themes, to work as a two-hour family film, so HBO’s adaptation — of which Pullman is an executive producer — has a lot of potential. A co-production with the BBC (and reportedly the British network’s most expensive show ever), His Dark Materials is show-run by Jack Thorne (who wrote the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and the cast includes David McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ruth Wilson, and Dafne Keen as central character Lyra Belacqua. Here’s the synopsis:
The first season follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Lyra’s search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets a determined and courageous boy called Will. Together they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living — and the dead — in their hands.
The first season of His Dark Materials, which will be eight episodes, airs later this year on HBO but you can watch the first trailer above.