HBO’s next epic series is set to premiere later this year and it will likely fill up the hole that Game of Thrones will leave behind. The network will launch His Dark Materials in a collaboration with BBC and it’s also based on a book with a large following.

Philip Pullman wrote and published His Dark Materials from 1995 to 2000, which also led to the development of a feature film. In 2007, The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman hit the big screen but the movie failed to do well at the box office so plans for the sequels were scrapped.

In 2015, BBC announced that it will be developing His Dark Materials as an eight-part TV series to supposedly launch in 2017. The show, however, took longer to come together but BBC also inked a partnership with HBO for the release.

His Dark Materials follows the story of Lyra Belacqua (played by Dafne Keen) who discovers a door to a mystical parallel universe. The book is supposed to be a young adult series but the story carries themes like the temptation and follies of men. Some compare His Dark Materials to a retelling of the classic John Milton literary piece Paradise Lost.

Aside from the Keen, who is best known to fans for the movie Logan, the BBC/HBO drama will also feature James McAvoy as Lord Asrael, Ruth Wilson as Marissa Coulter, and Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby. Georgina Campbell is also in the cast as the journalist Adele Starminster, while Shameless actress Anna-Marie Duff will play Ma Costa. 

Three Game of Thrones actors are also in the cast — Ian Gelder as Charles the librarian scholar, Lucien Msamati as John Faa, and James Cosmo as Farder Coram. For a complete listing of the star-studded ensemble of His Dark Materials, check out the press release from HBO. 

His Dark Materials season 1 finished filming in December 2018 and by February the following year, BBC released the show’s first tease. The first installment will cover the trilogy’s first book “Northern Lights” (also known as “The Golden Compass” in the U.S.) and from the looks of it, the show will be a faithful adaptation.

The cast and crew will soon be back on the set to film His Dark Materials season 2 based on the second book “The Subtle Knife.” According to Walesonline, the whole series will be told in forty episodes, which will be spread out in five seasons.