To mark the 25th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the US), publisher Penguin Random House and HBO have announced several events designed to commemorate and celebrate the occasion!
First, Penguin announced that Philip Pullman has written a new entry in the series. Serpentine is meant to bridge the gap between sequel series The Book of Dust and the His Dark Materials trilogy and will feature Lyra and Pan in a new story. It will be released in the UK on October 15, 2020 and can be pre-ordered now. The synopsis released states that
A standalone novella from the incandescent imagination of Philip Pullman, ‘Serpentine’ takes place after the conclusion of ‘His Dark Materials’ and finds Lyra and Pan on a perilous journey North in search of an old friend.
Olivia Coleman will read the audio version of the novella. The publisher also announced that the paperback edition of The Secret Commonwealth featuring new illustrations will be released September 17th alongside a special gift edition of Northern Lights/The Golden Compass from Scholastic Books.
As if that’s not enough, HBO is celebrating the series as well. The cast and crew of the His Dark Materials television series will be appearing at Comic-Con@Home on their own panel! The panel will take place via YouTube on July 23 and feature executive producer Jane Tranter, writer and producer Jack Thorne, Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Ariyon Bakare, Amir Wilson, Andrew Scott, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. HBO has also made the first episode of the series free on their YouTube channel.
You can watch season one of His Dark Materials on HBO Max now and find more of our coverage of the show here.
