This is not a drill: ‘The Golden Compass’ is going to be a TV show!
If you’ve ever joked about what animal your daemon would be or are super-confident you would be able to read an alethiometer or are just straight-up obsessed with armored polar bears, this news is for you: Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ is becoming a TV series.
“But wasn’t The Golden Compass already a movie?” you may be asking at this point.
Yup, it was. And, as novelist Pullman reminded us in a BBC statement, the trilogy (fans will remember that The Golden Compass (Northern Lights in the UK) is followed by The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), has already been adapted to a host of other mediums.
“It’s been a constant source of pleasure to me to see this story adapted to different forms,” Pullman explained. “It’s been a radio play, a stage play, a film, an audiobook, a graphic novel – and now comes this version for television.”
The story has touched hearts in all adaptations (especially in its original book form, the series has worldwide sold 17.5 million copies and has been published in 40 languages). That said, Pullman is feeling especially bullish about exploring the world as a TV series.
“In recent years we’ve seen how long stories on television, whether adaptations or original, can reach depths of characterisation and heights of suspense by taking the time for events to make their proper impact and for consequences to unravel. And the sheer talent now working in the world of long-form television is formidable. For all those reasons I’m delighted at the prospect of a television version of His Dark Materials. I’m especially pleased at the involvement of Jane Tranter, whose experience, imagination, and drive are second to none. As for the BBC, it has no stronger supporter than me. I couldn’t be more pleased with this news.”
The TV adaptation for BBC 1 will be handled by BBC vet producers Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner and their production company Bad Wolf (Yes Whovians, that is a Doctor reference, Gardner is a former Doctor Who/Torchwood producer). And these women could not be more excited to midwife the Dark Materials TV adaptation.
“It is an honor and a joy to be part of the team responsible for bringing Philip Pullman’s trilogy of novels ‘His Dark Materials’ to the BBC. Ever since they were first published these books have been a huge influence on so much of my thinking and imagination, and it is enormously inspiring to be now working on them for television adaptation. The broad horizons of television suggests itself as the best of vehicles to capture the expansiveness of the story and worlds of Lyra and Will, and I am looking forward to seeing how Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass will occupy their place in an audience’s imagination across many episodes and seasons.”
MANY episodes? MANY seasons? YES, we are IN, let the parallel universe magical madness begin!
(Image via New Line)