'His Dark Materials' Plods Back to HBO

It seems hard to remember now, but when BBC One and HBO announced they were finally getting His Dark Materials off the ground to series, it was an exciting development for fans of the book. Unlike George R.R. Martin, who knew enough about the industry to keep A Song of Ice and Fire back until the right project came along, both authors Phillip Pullman (of His Dark Materials) and Robert Jordan (of Wheel of Time) jumped at the first projects that came along in the post-Lord of the Rings success rush. The less said about what the Jordan estate went through to get their series on screen, the better, but Pullman's novel got a high-profile theatrical release, which flopped.

Due to those choices, both projects were delayed by almost a decade to follow in Game of Thrones' footsteps. Wheel of Time, perhaps because the entire book series is so unwieldy, has gone for a holistic interpretation. But His Dark Materials, from the jump, has stuck overly faithfully to the book. And that's fine! But the problem is, it's only fine. It's not exciting, not interesting, and an outdated model by a good decade.

The most frustrating part is that Season 2 seemed to recognize that Season 1 was far too "by the book" in its literal interpretation. Mrs. Coulter was given far more to do in the world of Earth than in the novel, the Will and Lyra portions more in-depth, and extra characters allowed to thrive. Not everything worked, mind you — Lin-Manuel Miranda as the miscast Lee Scoresby comes to mind — but it did manage to take the novel and make it work of a televisual story instead of a literal visual interpretation of a book.