Andrew Scott joins cast for BBC adaptation of Pullman's His Dark Materials

“Fleabag” actor Andrew Scott has joined the cast for the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

Originally commissioned in 2015, the cast also boasts James McAvoy, Anne Marie-Duff and Ruth Wilson. Irish actor Scott has joined series two which is now in production, as revealed in a 

 from the His Dark Materials' official Twitter feed on Monday (19th August), which also featured co-star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Scott will play adventurer and explorer Col John Parry, also known as Doctor Stanislaus Grumman in the show, which is a co-production between BBC and HBO.

The first series will be aired on BBC One close to Christmas and is written by Jack Thorne, of “The Cursed Child” stage play, and directed by Tom Hooper.

Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy consists of Northern Lights, first published by Scholastic in 1995, which introduces Lyra, an orphan, who lives in a parallel universe similar to Oxford in which science, theology and magic are entwined. 

 

"So I have summoned you here, and you are to fly me northwards”
When Lee Scoresby met Jopari.@Lin_Manuel #AndrewScott#BehindTheScenes #HisDarkMaterials pic.twitter.com/m0Rv6JlzSG

— His Dark Materials (@darkmaterials)

"So I have summoned you here, and you are to fly me northwards”
When Lee Scoresby met Jopari.@Lin_Manuel #AndrewScott#BehindTheScenes #HisDarkMaterials pic.twitter.com/m0Rv6JlzSG

— His Dark Materials (@darkmaterials) August 19, 2019

 

Pullman returned to the universe of His Dark Materials in October 2017 with the three-part Book of Dust series - the first in the new series, La Belle Sauvage is set 10 years before Northern Lights. 

It was revealed in June that the second title in the Book of Dust series, The Secret Commonwealth, is set 20 years after the events of La Belle Sauvage - seven years after readers left Lyra and Will Parry on a park bench in The Amber Spyglass, the final book in the His Dark Materials trilogy.

The Secret Commonwealth will be published David Fickling Books in association with Penguin Random House UK in hardback, e-book and audiobook on 3rd October. Chris Wormell is again illustrating the cover and chapter headings. It will be www.thebookseller.com/news/sheen-returns-narrate-philip-pullman-audiobook-1046466">narrated by actor Michael Sheen, who did the first Book of Dust novel.

The three titles from His Dark Materials have sold nearly 2.4 million with La Belle Sauvage shifting 335,115 in hardback and 95,281 copies in paperback, according to Nielsen BookScan.