Is season 3 the final series of His Dark Materials and how many episodes are there?

Fans are gearing up for an emotional ride in season 3 (Picture: HBO)

Watching His Dark Materials on the BBC has been quite the emotional, rollercoaster journey since the launch of season 1 in 2019.

Based on Philip Pullman’s book trilogy of the same name, the series follows a young girl called Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen), who’s destined to have a great impact on the universe as she travels between worlds, crossing paths with Will Keen (Amir Wilson), a boy who comes from a world different to her own.

Several other riveting characters add excitement to the story, including Lyra’s adventurous father, Lord Asriel Belacqua (James McAvoy), her scheming mother Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson), charismatic aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and kind-hearted physicist Dr Mary Malone (Simone Kirby).

As fans will have seen from the season 3 trailer, the story is only continuing to amp up when it comes to drama, action, heartbreak and excitement.

So is this the final season of His Dark Materials and how many episodes are there? Here’s what you need to know.

Is season 3 the final series of His Dark Materials?

Sadly, yes. The third season of His Dark Materials will be its last, bringing the TV adaptation of Philip’s book trilogy to a close.

The first season of the show adapted the first book, The Northern Lights, followed by the second, The Subtle Knife, and finally the third, The Amber Spyglass.

Philip has published further works set in the same universe, beginning with three novellas: Lyra’s Oxford, Once Upon a Time in the North and Serpentine.

In 2017, he also published La Belle Sauvage, the first instalment of a new trilogy called The Book of Dust, which was set before Lyra was brought to Oxford as a baby.

The next book in the series, The Secret Commonwealth, came out in 2019, which is set 10 years after the events of The Amber Spyglass, with the author currently working on the third book.

Given Lyra’s story continues after His Dark Materials in the Book of Dust series, many fans will undoubtedly be hoping that the second trilogy could be adapted onto the small screen, and could therefore also see the return of Dafne as Lyra.

However, right now this is just wishful thinking – we’ll have to wait and see if it comes to pass!

How many episodes are there in His Dark Materials season 3?

There are eight episodes in the third and final season of His Dark Materials, the same number as there was in season one.

Will and Lyra form a close bond in the series (Picture: Bad Wolf/BBC/HBO)

The second season was supposed to also have eight episodes, but one ended up being cut as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on production.

The episode in question would have been a standalone series focused around James’ Lord Asriel, exploring how he was able to rally up his army in his fight against The Authority.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press recently, James shared further details on when they knew the episode wasn’t going to air.

‘I mean, we never shot it, unfortunately. We got halfway through the first day,’ he said, before referencing Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt as he added. ‘Me and Jo Froggatt – I don’t know if anybody knows, but Jo Froggatt was in it – and me and her were running around.’

James was ‘really sad’ his standalone episode had to be cut (Picture: Bad Wolf/BBC/HBO)

The actor said that he was ‘really, really sad’ that it couldn’t make the final cut, stating: ‘I felt like the script had gotten to a really good place.’

Referencing His Dark Materials TV writer Jack Thorne, he continued: ‘Jack was getting it to an even better place, he didn’t stop working on it. We were all working on it together and it was getting better and better and better all the time.’

He acknowledged that it may cost too much to consider returning to the cut episode, but if it were ever a possibility, he’d ‘be up for it’.

‘I love playing Asriel and I would happily put on his knitwear,’ he stated.

His Dark Materials season 3 premieres tonight at 7pm on BBC One and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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Fans are gearing up for an emotional ride in season 3.