Everything we know about His Dark Materials Season 3

Watch the trailer:  

"I am gathering the greatest from every world to help me wage war." 

What’s the plot of His Dark Materials series 3? *POTENTIAL SPOILERS*  

For everyone who’s read The Amber Spyglass, which the third season is based on, you’ll know there’s an epic battle ahead. The latest trailer confirms this as we see Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) assembling an army to go up against the Authority, the main antagonist in the new season as the first angel to be formed from Dust. McAvoy described season 3 to The One Show as getting: 

“pretty down and dirty, and there’s gonna be a lot of fisticuffs and a lot of explosions.” 

Sounds promising to us!  

The trailer also gives us a glimpse at what Lyra (Dafne Keen) is up to. Lyra’s still on the run from the religious organisation the Magisterium, and is seen with her mother Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson). We see Lyra is troubled by strange dreams, hearing her deceased friend Roger’s voice as she and Will (Amir Wilson) take on the dangerous journey together to the Land of the Dead.  

McAvoy went on the tell The One Show that despite the epic battle to come, “at its heart it’s about a wee girl and a wee boy… and not the adults with the egos.” So we’ll still see plenty of Lyra and Will as well as Asriel’s war.  

Meanwhile, Ruth Wilson described the third season to RadioTimes.com as “the most ambitious” of the series so far, and “quite philosophical”, full of “huge themes and big ideas.”  

As angels, beasts and man come together in the fight, season 3 looks like it will be the most epic installment yet of the magical drama.  

Who is in the cast of His Dark Materials series 3? 

Here’s who will know will be in the series 3 cast:  

• Dafne Keen returns as Lyra Belacqua 

• Amir Wilson is also back as Will Parry 

• Ruth Wilson as Mrs Marisa Coulter 

• James McAvoy as Lord Asriel Belacqua. McAvoy should play a more prominent role this season after being mostly absent in season 2

• Kit Connor (Heartstopper) reprises his role as the voice of Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon 

• Will Keen as Cardinal Hugh MacPhail 

• Lewin Lloyd returns as Roger, despite the character's death 

• Lin-Manuel Miranda also returns as Lee Scoresby despite the character’s death in season 2...one of the benefits of Lyra travelling to the Land of the Dead is we’ll hear from some beloved characters again! 

• Ruta Gedmintas as Serafina Pekkala 

• Jade Anouka as Ruta Skadi 

• Simone Kirby as Dr Mary Malone 

• Joe Tandberg as bear-king Iorek Byrnison 

• Andrew Scott as Jopari 

• Sian Clifford as Agent Salmakia 

• Jonathan Aris as Commander Roke 

• David Suchet as the voice of Kaisa 

• Sope Dirisu as the voice of Sergi 

• Lindsay Duncan as the voice of Octavia 

New cast members:  

• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Game of Thrones) as Commander Ogunwe 

• Jamie Ward (The Durrells) as Father Gomez 

• Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Mary Poppins Returns) as Balthamos 

• Simon Harrison (Endeavour) as Baruch 

• Amber Fitzgerald-Woolfe as Ama 

• Chipo Chung (Into the Badlands) takes over from Sophie Okonedo as Xaphania 

Will His Dark Materials season 3 be different from the books? 

Good news for fans of the books - Philip Pullman has previously confirmed that the plot of the TV series won’t vary too dramatically from the original novels, with screenwriter Jack Thorne adding,  

“We are not trying to do something different from the books. Sometimes we do step away and do different things, but always we’re going back to the text and saying, ‘How does this help us tell [Philip’s] story best?”  

How can I watch Series 3 of His Dark Materials?

His Dark Materials season 3 will be on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sundays at 9pm from 18th December. We can’t wait to see where Lyra and Pan’s adventure takes them next...  

Get ready for the new season by rewatching series 1 and 2 of His Dark Materials again on BBC iPlayer.