'His Dark Materials' Gets A November Premiere Date From HBO, Series Will Also Draw From The Prequel Novels

‘His Dark Materials’ Gets A November Premiere Date From HBO, Series Will Also Draw From The Prequel Novels

We’re coming to the light at the end of the tunnel,His Dark Materialsfans. HBO has announced theHis Dark Materialspremiere date, setting the highly anticipated fantasy series' debut for this November.

After two trailers and several casting announcements, HBO has finally shined a light on theHis Dark Materialspremiere date.His Dark Materialsis set to premiere onNovember 4, 2019exclusively on HBO, as well as HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and partners' streaming platforms.

His Dark Materialsadapts Philip Pullman’s critically acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy, with the first season set to adapt the first novelThe Golden Compass. The first book was previously adapted into a disappointing 2007 feature film directed by Chris Weitz and starring Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman.

But the HBO series, produced in a partnership with BBC, will hopefully do justice to the novel, an ambitious fantasy-adventure story that follows a spirited young girl Lyra (played byLoganbreakoutDafne Keen) who embarks on a quest to rescue her friend after he is kidnapped, uncovering a vast conspiracy that involves a tyrannical church. It’s set in a rich fantasy world with a deep and awe-inspiring mythology that Pullman expanded on even more in his latest prequel trilogyThe Book of Dust, which is set to release its second book,The Secret Commonwealth, next month. It seems like the HBO series is determined to do justice by Pullman’s sprawling, fantastic story, per series lead executive producer Jane Tranter’s hints that the first season will use “a tiny bit” of the prequel’s deeper mythology.

“As far as the deeper mythology is concerned, we grab at anything we can get,” Tranter toldEntertainment Weekly. “As [teleplay writer] Jack Thorne would say, it’s like we’ve done a PhD in the mythology of these books.”

There isn’t actually much more mythology described in the first novel ofThe Book of Dust,The Belle Sauvage, which is a fairly straightforward adventure story that takes place about a dozen years before the events ofThe Golden Compass. Most of the deeper world-building comes in the second and third books ofHis Dark Materials, though perhaps Tranter and Thorne are pulling from the yet-unpublishedThe Secret of the Commonwealth. If so, that presents some new and exciting details that even longtimeHis Dark Materialsfans aren’t familiar with.

Tom Hooperdirects the highly anticipated series, which features a star-studded cast that includesJames McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dafne Keen, andRuth Wilson.The recently announced voice cast also includesHelen McCrory, David Suchet, and more.

Here is the synopsis forHis Dark Materials:

Adapting Philip Pullman’s award-winning trilogy of the same name, which is considered a modern masterpiece of imaginative fiction, the series follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust.

His Dark Materialspremieres on HBO on November 4 at 9 p.m. ET.