Wright has also axed several key characters including Mary Malone, the scientist who stimulates Lyra's sexual awareness, and the militant angel, Metatron.

Though if you haven't read the books, the play kind of gives away the ending with the first scene, so beware spoilers. While Sam Elliott blamed the Catholic Church's opposition for forcing the cancellation of any adaptations of the rest of the trilogy, The Guardian 's film critic Stuart Heritage believed disappointing reviews may have been the real reason. In the birth-universe of the story's protagonist Lyra Belacqua, a human individual's inner-self [12] manifests itself throughout life as an animal-shaped "dæmon" that almost always stays near its human counterpart. The third and final eight-episode series premiered first on HBO on 5 December 2022, and on 18 December 2022 in the UK. Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said.There's plenty of adventure, with angels, daemons, harpies, spectres and armoured bears, but also thoughtful insights on parenthood and religious authority.

The main problem has been finding a way of augmenting the story without interfering with the action on stage or distracting the audience in any way (who really need to concentrate without being overwhelmed by inappropriate sound activity). The novels have won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Medal in 1995 for Northern Lights and the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year for The Amber Spyglass.

I have to disagree with my friend Stuart, though, about whether the play seems less anti-religion than the books. Northern Lights' was published in 1995 and won the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.