Daemons and talking polar bears and a repressive religious regime, oh my! When it comes to vastly underrated fantasy sagas, it doesn’t get much better than HBO’s His Dark Materials.Produced in collaboration with BBC One, the much-anticipated TV series based on Phillip Pullman‘s trilogy of novels is set in a multiverse that includes our own world. His Dark Materials follows young Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) and her daemon Pantalaimon (Kit Connor) as they uncover a conspiracy involving kidnapped children and a mysterious cosmic substance known as Dust, teaming up with Will Parry (Amir Wilson), a boy from another world, to battle the authoritarian Magisterium.
Also starring James McAvoy and Lin-Manuel Miranda, His Dark Materials received critical acclaim for its outstanding cast and breathtaking visuals but, despite its success in the United Kingdom, didn’t become quite as popular as the series deserved to be. Unfortunately, lack of worldwide mainstream appeal typically means that an IP is shelved. But there is still so much more to explore in Pullman’s (and Lyra’s) world, and a sequel might be just what His Dark Materials needs to get the flowers it deserves.
Lyra’s Story Doesn’t End With ‘His Dark Materials’
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
This is perhaps why the series did not plan to continue past Season 3, which is a shame because Pullman wrote no less than five novellas, a short story, and a new (as yet incomplete) trilogy series set in his multiverse following the completion of the His Dark Materials novels.
A ‘His Dark Materials’ Sequel Could Explore More of Lyra’s World
His Dark Materials’ Season 3 storyline was accused of feeling rushed and was notably criticized for overshadowing the tragedy of Lyra and Will’s relationship arc for the sake of advancing the plot, but Pullman’s latter stories offer an opportunity to slow down and simplify, focusing on singular characters and their motivations. A sequel series based on Pullman’s expanded world could tie up loose ends with Lyra’s Oxford and Serpentine, which exploreLyra and Pantalaimon’s new normal, and how the events of His Dark Materials affected them.
The novellas also providebackstories for fan-favorite characters like Lee Scoresby (Lin-Manuel Miranda) in Once Upon a Time in the North, and Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) inThe Collectors. The first two books of Pullman’s second trilogy, The Book of DustandThe Secret Commonwealth, shed more light on both the mysteries of the Magisterium and Dust and elaborate on Lyra’s story before and beyond His Dark Materials, which could amend the series’ issue with incomplete-feeling character arcs.
Unfortunately, with only three seasons, His Dark Materials may not have been given enough time to dig into Pullman’s intricate novels and develop a larger fanbase. Even Game of Thrones, now considered the gold standard of epic fantasy, took three full seasons to build up its viewership and only exploded into the zeitgeist after the infamous Red Wedding episode at the end of Season 3.
