You can’t have your epic atheist fantasy series without your requisite talking animals. And the His Dark Materials voice cast for its furry friends, and a few furry enemies, is quite impressive. HBO and BBC announced the voice cast for animal counterparts, or daemons, of His Dark Materials which include the likes of Helen McCrory, David Suchet, and more.
In a world so similar but so unlike our own, perhaps the biggest hurdle for newcomers to the His Dark Materials series is the presence of talking animals. Witches: cool. Child kidnappers working for an oppressive church: sure. But daemons, the talking animals that are a manifestation of each person’s subconscious could come off as a little too childish. But thankfully, HBO and BBC are taking this aspect of the series seriously in their co-production His Dark Materials, which adapts Philip Pullman‘s critically acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy.
His Dark Materials announced the voice cast for the series, which includes Helen McCrory (the Harry Potter series) as Stelmaria, the elegant snow leopard daemon of Lord Asriel (James McAvoy); David Suchet (Poirot) as Kaisa, the gyrfalcon daemon to the witch Serafina Pekkala; Kit Connor (Rocketman), as Lyra Belacqua’s (Dafne Keen) shape-shifting daemon Pantalaimon; and Cristela Alonzo as the arctic hare Hester of aeronaut Lee Scorseby (Lin-Manuel Miranda).
While the villainous Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) has a Golden Monkey daemon that is never heard speaking, his animal noises and vocal characteristics will be created by Brian Fisher (Detective Pikachu), who also serves as the lead puppeteer and CFX Coordinator on the series
Rounding out the voice cast is Joe Tandberg (The Innocents) as Iorek Byrnison, a fierce and dangerous bear who Lyra meets on her quest to rescue her kidnapped friend.
Tom Hooper directs the highly anticipated series, which features a star-studded cast that includes James McAvoy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dafne Keen, and Ruth Wilson.
His Dark Materials premieres on HBO this fall.
His Dark Materials stars Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Adapting Philip Pullman’s award-winning trilogy of the same name, which is considered a modern masterpiece of imaginative fiction, the first season follows Lyra, a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children, and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets Will, a determined and courageous boy. Together, they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living and the dead in their hands.
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