Explained: Why was His Dark Materials canceled?

No more of Lyra Belacqua-Will Parry’s adventures as His Dark Materials has officially come to a halt. The fantasy drama aired its finale on Monday, December 26, 2022, at 9 pm ET/PT.

Titled The Botanic Garden, the final episode was directed by Harry Wootliff and written by Francesca Gardiner. The Jack Thorne-written show starred Dafne Keen as Lyra Belacqua, Amir Wilson as Will Parry, Kit Connor as Pantalaimon’s voice, Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter, and James McAvoy as Lord Asriel Belacqua, among others.

Notably, season 1 ran from November 4, 2019, to December 22, 2019. The following season began on November 8, 2020, and ended on December 20, 2020.

Meanwhile, the first episode of the third season premiered on December 5 of this year, with the show wrapping up on Monday.

---

His Dark Materials was technically never canceled

To note, season 3 of the show was based on the 2000 novel, The Amber Spyglass. Since this is the last part of Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials (the base material for the entire show), the team attached to the TV series had no plans to continue after season 3 since the start.

So technically, His Dark Materials was never canceled. This means that there will neither be any season 4 nor a spin-off for the HBO show.

Executive producer Jane Tranter, however, wanted His Dark Materials to have six more seasons. While speaking at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, held in August this year, she said:

“Honestly, I would have told it across nine seasons if I could have done. There are so many stories that we weren’t able to do.”

She made a special mention of the story arc comprising Ruta Skadi (Jade Anouka) and her meeting the angels.

Jade Anouka played the character of Ruta Skadi. (Photo via HBO)

It was shown fleetingly in season 2 episode 6, Malice, but Tranter felt this could have been easily expanded. She noted:

“When Ruta Skadi meets the angels in season 2, it’s kind of like 'Oh look, there’s some angels, I’m gonna go off now.’ In the book, there’s this amazing sequence [with those characters] and there just isn’t time to do it.”

Tranter highlighted the “real estate of television” permits series adaptations to swell the source material and “slow everything down.” The producer confessed that she could have done the same with His Dark Materials, but didn’t. She mentioned:

“Unfortunately that’s probably the wrong thing for an audience. Some would have liked it, but it’s expensive and it’s a season-a-book and that’s that and now it’s finishing.”

---

Tranter kept hopes alive for spin-offs though

In 2020 shortly before His Dark Materials was renewed for a third and final season, Tranter told RadioTimes that she would love to adapt Pullman’s The Book of Dust trilogy for spin-offs. She reasoned:

“La Belle Sauvage (the first part of The Book Of Dust trilogy) has got Lyra as a baby, and gives some of Asriel and Coulter’s backstory, and some of Lyra’s origin story. And The Secret Commonwealth (the second part) is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I just don’t think there is a better study of depression, in some ways, in a fantasy landscape.”

Terming it the “most exciting story” and an “extraordinary piece,” she said that “if anyone ever gave us the opportunity to do it, we’d be there.”

---

What to expect from His Dark Materials universe?

There’s a high chance that the celluloid version of The Book Of Dust trilogy will be made since His Dark Materials is such a mega-hit. Whether Tranter and her team will return for this remains a matter of time though.

Interestingly, The Book of Dust deals with Lyra and her fight against the Magisterium, a theocratic organization. It trains its focus on a shadowy substance called Dust.

But the trilogy is yet to get its third part. Pullman told a Twitter user in October of this year that he is “up to page 275” of that section. So till that arrives, it’s nothing but a long wait.