It looks like production is about to start on the long-awaited His Dark Materials TV series, as the producers of A Discovery of Witches hint they will be working on it next. His Dark Materials, the trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman, has had a series in the works at the BBC since 2015,  when it was first announced that the three novels would be coming to the small screen. The massively popular fantasy novel has already made it to stage, radio, graphic novels, and even the ill-fated Golden Compass film, which could have become a big-screen trilogy had the first movie been a bigger success.

Since the announcement that the BBC would be creating an ’event series’ out of the books, fans have been waiting for more news of the production, but thus far, the only movement on the series was the announcement that Jack Thorne would be writing. Now, however, it seems that His Dark Materials will finally be getting underway, as the producers promise that they will be working on it ’next'.

The news comes via Twitter, where Bad Wolf Productions announced that they have wrapped filming on A Discovery Of Witches. The series, based on the fantasy novel of the same name by Deborah Harkness, is set to premiere this fall, but the most exciting part of this tweet might be the final words “Next up… @HisDarkMatTV”.

And that’s a wrap on #adiscoveryofwitches.What an exciting adventure it’s been. We can’t wait for you all to see it in the Autumn.Make sure you keep following @ADiscoveryOfWTV for all of your witchy updates.Next up… @HisDarkMatTV pic.twitter.com/7mCPW2TiCT— Bad Wolf (@BadWolf_TV) February 19, 2018

Bad Wolf productions are a Welsh company, founded by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, and if the name didn’t give it away, both were closely involved in the revival of the classic BBC series Doctor Who. As well as A Discovery of Witches and His Dark Materials, Bad Wolf have worked on the mini-series The Night Of and the film Beddgelert, making His Dark Materials probably their highest-profile project yet.

There are high hopes for the TV series, given the popularity of the books, although there are plenty of skeptics about the viability of the series - especially after the flop of The Golden Compass. Fans are hoping that the series format will be what makes the difference, with multiple seasons giving the BBC the opportunity to really explore the worlds of Lyra and Will in a way that the feature film failed to do. With Game of Thrones wrapping up very soon, as well, it’s likely that the BBC will be aiming to release His Dark Materials in time to fill that fantasy-gap for TV audiences.

There’s no news yet as to exactly when the first season will air, though, and the cast has to be confirmed before filming can even begin. However, the Bad Wolf tease suggests that His Dark Materials is about to really get underway this year, and that could mean a season one premiere date as early as 2019.

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A Discovery Of Witches premieres later this year. His Dark Materials does not yet have a premiere date.

Source: Bad Wolf