The Most Underrated Fantasy TV Show Of The Last 10 Years Could Still Get A Sequel

Fantasy TV shows have been incredibly popular in the past 10-15 years, but one in particular was rather underrated. Despite that, however, it could still get a sequel. The fantasy genre has long clearly been profitable, and that’s led to many attempts to cash-in. The success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings in the early 2000s led to a glut of imitators, and then Game of Thrones’ small screen dominance did similar for TV.

Whether it’s Netflix with shows such as The Witcher and Shadow and Bone, Amazon with The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power, or HBO’s direct Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, several fantasy shows have tried to replicate that success, and some have even achieved it, despite varying degrees of quality. One of the best fantasy TV shows to come in the past decade – and arguably the best in a post-Game of Thrones landscape – is HBO and BBC’s His Dark Materials. Unfortunately, it never got the attention it deserved.

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Why His Dark Materials Is An Extremely Underrated Fantasy TV Show

An adaptation of Philip Pullman’s books, previously made into the failed movie The Golden Compass, His Dark Materials is a world of daemons and dust. It’s a brilliant example of all the wonder, awe, and love the genre can inspire. His Dark Materials wasn’t critically panned by any means, but it also wasn’t lavished with praise either. The show received solid reviews, which wasn’t really enough to make it stand out from the crowd. On Rotten Tomatoes, for instance, its three seasons pulled in 77%, 88%, and 90%, all of which are respectable. Yet even with season 3, the average score was never higher than 7.3/10, and that’s largely the same across other metrics like Metacritic and IMDb.

Similar is true in terms of ratings. The show had pretty good numbers in the UK, especially in season 1 (with over seven million tuning in for the premiere), but struggled to get over 500,000 in the US. By season 3, His Dark Materials was pulling in just around 150,000 viewers on HBO [via TV Series Finale]. Again, other shows have fared worse, but it’s hardly fitting for just how good His Dark Materials is. Philip Pullman’s book trilogy is among the great fantasy series of the past 30 years, and while the show doesn’t always scale those dizzying heights, it certainly comes close and is about as good an adaptation as they could have had.

His Dark Materials’ cast is uniformly superb, though particular praise must go to Dafne Keen for carrying much of the narrative and emotional weight, and for Ruth Wilson, who nails the best and most complex arc. Visually, the show looks gorgeous, and handles its CGI well. There are signs of budget constraints, particularly in season 1 where daemons don’t appear enough, but that’s less of an issue as the show goes on, and it still manages to make the bonds between human and daemon clearly felt. That’s never truer than season 3 where, when those bonds are tested to the extreme, it brings a scene so painful it’s hard not to experience what the characters are going through.

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His Dark Materials has powerful themes around faith and religion that, unlike the movie, it does not shy away from. But at its heart, this is also a coming-of-age story about friendship and love, and the show’s emotional beats land beautifully. Fantasy shows have seen the wheels come off their story, struggled with pacing, or failed to develop characters. His Dark Materials did a great job across all three seasons of building a cohesive whole, with satisfying payoffs for just about everyone, building to an ending that is as good as any in the genre. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely one of the best fantasy shows to come from the genre’s books of the past decade or so, and deserves far more recognition for that.

How His Dark Materials Could Still Get A Sequel Show

Although His Dark Materials season 3 was the last one, having adapted each book in Pullman’s trilogy, there is still a way the show – and certainly Dafne Keen’s Lyra – could get a sequel. Pullman has written several other novels and novellas within this universe, three of which do pick up Lyra’s story after the events of His Dark Materials: Lyra’s Oxford, Serpentine, and The Secret Commonwealth. There’s certainly enough material for more, and interest in what would effectively be His Dark Materials season 4 from those involved too.

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What Happens to Lyra & Pantalaimon After His Dark Materials

The story of Lyra and Pantalaimon does not end with His Dark Materials but continues in the following books that follow them as protagonists.

Speaking to the Radio Times, producer Jane Tranter said she is “really very keen to do The Book of Dust.” That’s the series that includes The Secret Commonwealth (though the first book, La Belle Sauvage, is a prequel), and would bring back Lyra. Keen herself has also seemed open to the idea, saying in a separate interview with Radio Times that she wishes she could play Lyra “for the rest of my life.”

That, of course, does not guarantee it will happen. But given the quality of the show and the richness of the world, it absolutely should. Following Lyra’s story, and bringing back Keen to a role she plays so wonderfully (and would still be the right age for, since several years could have passed), would allow all that’s great about His Dark Materials (which is available to stream on Max) to continue. With a decent budget and lower ratings, it may not be feasible, but there’s at least hope it could go on.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, IMDb, TV Series Finale, Radio Times, Radio Times