The intricate political plots and worldbuilding of Game of Thrones meet the parallel dimensions of Stranger Things in HBO’s underrated three-season fantasy gem. Game of Thrones and Stranger Things are undoubtedly two of the biggest shows of the 21st century. Game of Thrones changed what fantasy television could be, crafting high-stakes politics, epic battles, and complex, character-driven narratives. Despite its divisive ending, it remains the most impressive small-screen series ever produced, influencing countless shows in its wake, including The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time.
Stranger Things, meanwhile, became a pop culture juggernaut, featuring a group of young, charismatic heroes battling forces beyond their wildest dreams and even beyond their own world. The responsibility on Eleven’s psychically gifted shoulders in Stranger Things is the same kind of burden carried by the young leading lady of HBO’s His Dark Materials, a three-season adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s beloved fantasy trilogy.
Published between 1995 and 2000, His Dark Materials, which consists of Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass, follows Lyra Belacqua’s coming-of-age journey as she and her allies, especially her later love, Will Parry, join the fight against the organized and opressive religious might of the Authority and the Magisterium in an epic quest to protect the elemental, sentient particle called Dust and the very concept of free will. It’s a battle of religion and faith, of oppression and freedom, of love and found family.
In the first season alone, Lyra seeks to free a group of kidnapped children and protect their souls, as the Magisterium performs experiments on them not unlike the way Dr. Brenner’s program tortured children to imbue them with powers in Stranger Things. To succeed, Lyra teams up with witches, Gyptians, an aeronaut, and an armored talking polar bear, one as important to the story and Lyra’s development as Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons are in Game of Thrones.
It’s an undeniably sweeping tale, one that only grows in scope when Lyra visits other parallel worlds in the show’s later episodes, as she and Will cut “windows” into these alternate realities rather than traveling through “gates.” It may not be as bloody and gritty as Game of Thrones, and it might not have generated the same multi-generational hype as Stranger Things. Even so, His Dark Materials is an undeniable triumph of fantasy television, a great example of how to handle book adaptations, explore philosophical storytelling, and create accessible otherworldly adventures on the small screen.
His Dark Materials Is One Of The Best Fantasy Book Adaptations
Fantasy adaptations are notoriously tricky to get right. Even Game of Thrones struggled to adapt George R.R. Martin’s massive five-book (and counting) A Song of Ice and Fire saga, leaving out multiple plot threads and dozens of characters to condense Westeros’ political turmoil into something that could work in a new medium. The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power, and The Witcher were all criticized for their efforts. Many, like Shadow and Bone or My Lady Jane, were canceled after just one or two seasons due to high production costs and streaming’s unattainable viewership demands.
His Dark Materials avoided all of that, however. From the beginning, the BBC and HBO co-production had a plan: one season per book, and no more. Not only did this ensure the story had a proper beginning, middle, and end, but the show’s season lengths also allowed the series to explore the complexities of Pullman’s narrative with the care it deserved. This was especially important after 2007’s The Golden Compass movie adaptation essentially erased all religious commentary from the story, leaving Lyra’s quest, Lord Asriel’s obsessive rebellion, and the worldbuilding feeling shallow.
Though Nicole Kidman was well cast in The Golden Compass, His Dark Materials’ Mrs. Coulter is on another level. Ruth Wilson plays the character with an underlying righteous fury and a stunning thread of vulnerability, all while strutting around in gorgeous ’50s-inspired frocks and hatching devious plans. She’s a multi-layered villain in the best way. Dafne Keen, who was a standout in Logan, is a great leading force, at times missing Lyra’s sense of mischief but portraying the character with the right level of curiosity, fierceness, and bravery.
Visually, His Dark Materials is stunning, a far cry from the campy, low-budget special effects of fellow BBC genre hits like Merlin and Doctor Who. Iorek Byrnison, the polar bear, looks like a true King in his armor, and the characters’ animal daemons (physical manifestations of a person’s soul), including Lyra’s pine marten, Pan, are animated with real emotion and believable movement. Most importantly, Lyra’s reality feels lived in yet just different enough from our own to feel magical. There’s a lot of creativity in this adaptation, and it shows. For anyone looking to fill a fantasy void in their lives, His Dark Materials should be added to the queue.
- Release Date
-
2019 – 2022-00-00
- Network
-
BBC One
- Directors
-
William McGregor, Amit Gupta, Leanne Welham, Charles Martin, Otto Bathurst, Euros Lyn, Dawn Shadforth, Harry Wootliff, Jamie Childs
- Writers
-
Jack Thorne, Francesca Gardiner, Amelia Spencer, Sarah Quintrell