It was recently announced that Philip Pullman’s award winning trilogy His Dark Materials would be adapted for film again, but this time for the small screen. It will be given a family-friendly version of the Game of Thrones treatment. The first book of the series, The Golden Compass, will be adapted into a television show intended to remain true to the books, and the series format will allow enough time to fully develop the plot and characters. If the first book-to-television series adaption is successful, hopefully the second book, The Subtle Knife, and the third book, The Amber Spyglass, will also be adapted. 

In honor of this announcement, we wanted to highlight this great trilogy here. The His Dark Materials trilogy follows Lyra Belacqua, an orphan growing up at an Oxford university in an alternate reality from ours. In this other reality, everyone’s soul is projected as a dæmon that takes the form of animal companion. 

Throughout the trilogy, Lyra and her dæmon go on a challenging multi-universe adventure that explores concepts of physics, philosophy, and theology.  Lyra also meets an amazing assortment of characters, from a Bear King, to a hot air balloonist from Texas, to the queen of a clan of witches.

This is a series of books marketed at and appropriate for middle- and high-school-aged students, but it was intended to be enjoyed by adults as well. Similar to the Harry Potter series, as the characters age and develop, the books also begin to explore more mature subject matter. With the television series set to be made, it might be a great time to read this trilogy as a family.Read the original announcement from BBC here.

The Golden Compass            The Subtle Knife                  The Amber Spyglass