Things We Saw Today: The Adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Will Star a Breakout Mutant and Alexander Hamilton

Logan star Dafne Keen, who played X-23, has landed the role of Lyra. She’ll be joined by Lin-Manual Miranda and director Tom Hooper.

Miranda has signed on as the explorer Lee Scoresby, and Keen, who received top notices for her role as Wolverine’s young female clone Laura in Logan, should make for a strong Lyra. Considering the well-known names now attached to the project, the rest of the cast is likely to be star-studded.

Pullman’s beloved (and complex) fantasy series never broke out on the screen after 2007’s lackluster The Golden Compass. But the BBC’s planned 8-part adaptation, which has been brewing for a while, could do the trick. According to Deadline Hollywood:

BBC One ordered the series, which is written by National Treasure and Wonder writer Jack Thorne, in 2015. Pullman’s work, which featured three books: Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, is a complex tale of physics, philosophy and theology featuring witches and armored polar bears. It tells the story of the coming of age of two children, Lyra and Will, who wander through a series of parallel universes.

I have a complicated relationship with director Tom Hooper’s movies (The King’s Speech, Les Miserables, The Danish Girl) but he has a fine sense for visuals and aesthetics, which is important here. We’ll keep watching this space for more casting news and armored polar bears.

(via Deadline, images: 20th Century Fox/Wikimedia Commons)

• Black Panther looks set to conquer the Chinese market. Somewhere, The Last Jedi is crying. (via Variety)
• If A Wrinkle in Time does well Hollywood will want a sequel, but are those books adaptable? (via io9)
• Denis Villeneuve may make two whole Dune movies (or more!). I hear that if I don’t have something nice to say I shouldn’t say anything at all, so I’m gonna try that. (via Indiewire)

It’s the weekend, friends! Please accept this fake pineapple in heart-shaped sunglasses:

So what’d you see today?

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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