His Dark Materials theme tune teased in trailer 1

The teaser trailer for the BBC and HBO adaptation of Philip Pullman‘s His Dark Materials is in and it sounds like it also teases the theme tune that is going to be the next big intro song spinning around in everyone’s head. Following up on the genius of Game Of Thrones and it’s Main Title Theme was always going to be a challenge for HBO, but it looks like it may well be on the brink of clinching it with Season 1 coming soon.

It’s set to kick things off with the opening story in the trilogy, Northern Lights, in which Lyra Balacque is torn from her life at Oxford University’s Jordan College and embarks on a journey to the North Pole in a bid to find her friend Roger and her uncle Lord Asriel. There are no details about how much of the opening book will feature in season one, but it is expected to be the whole story with subsequent series focusing on the second and third part of the trilogy.

If it’s as successful as anticipated it will undoubtedly result in a follow-on trilogy to cover the three Stories that will make up The Book of Dust, which has already featured the brilliant La Belle Sauvage. If that turns out to be the case then we should expect a total of six seasons for His Dark Materials on HBO and BBC, with the later books still to be written, which continues the parallels with Game of Thrones. The second book in the new series has a release date of the 3rd October 2019 and you can find out more at Penguin.

His dark materials theme tune

The name of the theme tune hasn’t been announced as a yet and all we have to go on the snippets in the teaser trailer below, but it’s definitely got the potential to be a very popular opening theme. Just like Game of Thrones it’s classical with dark strings and a jagged delivery that echoes the brutal intercision process that is such a big part of the sinister plot of Northern Lights and the world-portal slicing Subtle Knife, wielded by Will in Book II and III.

However, it also includes a heavy bass synth note that cuts through it all with weighty timing, mirroring the mix of sci-fi and fantasy that is so expertly interwoven into His Dark Materials. You can take a listen to it in the BBC teaser trailer below, which gives a lot of focus to the theme, but you’ll have to wait for the air date later in 2019 to listen to it in full.

His Dark Materials trailer 1

Cast

You can also see the incredible cast that has been brought together for the BBC and HBO adaptation of His Dark Materials and the link with X-Men has led to some funny comments about Charles Xavier now looking after the girl from Logan. Dafne Keen has been cast as Lyra and James McAvoy (Atomic Blonde) will star as Lord Asriel, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Lee Scoresby and Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger) as Mrs. Coulter.

The Game Of Thrones link continues with the casting of James Cosmo as Farder Coram, following on from his role as Jeor Mormont, former commander of the Knight’s Watch. There’s no word on who will voice Iorek Byrnison, but Serafina Pekkala will be played by Ruta Gedmintas who looks perfect for the role.

First impressions

With an epic teaser trailer, great cast, powerful theme tune and strong teaser trailer, His Dark Materials is looking like it could well be the next Game Of Thrones. Fans are particularly excited with the plan to cover all three books, sticking to the original stories, making up for the overhaul that drew so much criticism for the film adaptation of Northern Lights, The Golden Compass. You can see more on the production with the official Twitter page at twitter.com/darkmaterials.