--- title: Review: HBO's 'His Dark Materials' Is for Fantasy Fans Only description: In this adaptation of Philip Pullman's book trilogy, a scrappy girl hero grows up in an alternate reality. canonical: https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/ author: Judy Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-10-25T19:53:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T07:38:52.579Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Review: HBO's 'His Dark Materials' Is for Fantasy Fans Only og:description: In this Philip Pullman adaptation, a girl hero grows up in an alternate reality og:url: https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt117fd0432d4baf10/698a04e8b21a9c451b502930/a644777c5ef6bee919a324516d3b79893c6bf73885938a2e1e1ca1e5b1ec8a162371d98d9608d96e079e06b362c5f8ae.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: lyra his dark materials og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Review: HBO's 'His Dark Materials' Is for Fantasy Fans Only twitter:description: In this Philip Pullman adaptation, a girl hero grows up in an alternate reality twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt117fd0432d4baf10/698a04e8b21a9c451b502930/a644777c5ef6bee919a324516d3b79893c6bf73885938a2e1e1ca1e5b1ec8a162371d98d9608d96e079e06b362c5f8ae.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # HBO's Lavish _His Dark Materials_ Adaptation Is Strictly for Fantasy Fans > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Oct 25, 2019 7:53 PM UTC  Lyra (Keen) and her alethiometer in 'His Dark Materials' Lyra (Keen) and her alethiometer in 'His Dark Materials'HBO  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Oct 25, 2019 7:53 PM UTC Twelve is a tough age. How’s a kid supposed to focus on school when it’s only a matter of time before her lifelong anthropomorphic animal companion stops shape-shifting and settles into its permanent form—which could be a lion or a bird or, how mortifying, a cockroach? Caught between childhood and the inscrutable world of adults, a girl needs a female mentor to teach her how to use a contraband compass-like device called an alethiometer that works kind of like an omniscient, cosmic Google. O.K., so maybe those aren’t common preteen experiences in our reality. But in the alternate universe of _His Dark Materials_, a TV adaptation of [Philip Pullman’s](https://time.com/4985408/philip-pullman-book-of-dust-interview/) beloved fantasy trilogy, talking-animal sidekicks known as daemons are the norm. And 12-year-old hero Lyra (Dafne Keen)—a scrappy orphan growing up in the halls of Oxford as her explorer uncle (James McAvoy) travels north in search of parallel realms—really could use a woman in her life. It’s just a shame that the one who finally spirits her away is Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson, playing it coy), a mysterious visitor who chooses Lyra as a protégé. In less rarefied corners of this slantwise Britain, where planes and computers don’t exist but airships and apparently mass-produced clothing do, children are being kidnapped. A society of canal-dwelling nomads, the Gyptians, have been hit hardest. And the state’s theocratic overlords don’t seem to care. With Lyra’s buddy Roger (Lewin Lloyd) missing and the help of a warrior polar bear, a somewhat miscast Lin-Manuel Miranda and an alethiometer that only she can read, a rescue quest takes shape. It’s a wonderful story, rendered with the liveliness—and the budget—Pullman’s books deserve. Keen’s Lyra has tomboy charm for miles, and her frustration that everyone seems to know more than she does about who she is captures a feeling that, in more abstract form, is universal to her age. Yet the show’s world-building can be messy, as early episodes struggle to establish the conventions of this reality, and watching CGI animals talk plunged me straight into the uncanny valley. Coulter’s Art Deco apartment, a _Harry Potter_–ish Oxford and an arctic outpost straight out of the 19th-century Yukon don’t add up to a coherent aesthetic. _His Dark Materials_ doesn’t transcend its genre—but if you love fantasy, it’ll cast a spell. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/"},"headline":"HBO's Lavish His Dark Materials Adaptation Is Strictly for Fantasy Fans","datePublished":"2019-10-25T19:53:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T07:38:52.579Z","description":"In this Philip Pullman adaptation, a girl hero grows up in an alternate reality","url":"https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt117fd0432d4baf10/698a04e8b21a9c451b502930/a644777c5ef6bee919a324516d3b79893c6bf73885938a2e1e1ca1e5b1ec8a162371d98d9608d96e079e06b362c5f8ae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Judy Berman","jobTitle":"TV Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/judy-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt117fd0432d4baf10/698a04e8b21a9c451b502930/a644777c5ef6bee919a324516d3b79893c6bf73885938a2e1e1ca1e5b1ec8a162371d98d9608d96e079e06b362c5f8ae.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"lyra his dark materials","caption":"Lyra (Keen) and her alethiometer in 'His Dark Materials'","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5711058/his-dark-materials-hbo-review/","name":"HBO's Lavish His Dark Materials Adaptation Is Strictly for Fantasy Fans"}}]}] ```