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watch HBO's 'His Dark Materials' trailer

As we get set to bid farewell to Game of Thrones this weekend, HBO has shared the trailer for what it hopes will be their next hit fantasy series: His Dark Materials. The show is based on Philip Pullman‘s great series of novels which began with 1995’s Northern Lights, retitled The Golden Compass in the U.S. which then became a not-very-good 2007 film starring Nicole Kidman. There was too much going on in the books, and too many complex, adult themes, to work as a two-hour family film, so HBO’s adaptation — of which Pullman is an executive producer — has a lot of potential. A co-production with the BBC (and reportedly the British network’s most expensive show ever), His Dark Materials is show-run by Jack Thorne (who wrote the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and the cast includes David McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ruth Wilson, and Dafne Keen as central character Lyra Belacqua. Here’s the synopsis:

The first season follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Lyra’s search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets a determined and courageous boy called Will. Together they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living — and the dead — in their hands.

The first season of His Dark Materials, which will be eight episodes, airs later this year on HBO but you can watch the first trailer above.