Well, That’s A Thing: Tom Hooper’s HIS DARK MATERIALS Has Its Cast

Ooooh boy. You might remember a couple months ago we heard some rumblings that Lin-Manuel Miranda and Daphne Keen were going to be part of the 8-part BBC miniseries adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. This brought on some mixed feelings, since Keen is a damn near perfect choice to play main character Lyra, but Miranda would be stepping into the shoes of Lee Scorsby, and if we're playing to type here, no one is ever going to live up to Sam Elliott's version in the admittedly lackluster 2007 film version.

Oh, and Tom Hooper was in talks to direct. Which is fine. It's fine. I'm sure it'll be fine. When has Tom Hooper ever made anything bad except for his entire filmography? No biggie.

Well, now we have confirmation from Variety on Hooper's, Keen's, and Miranda's involvement, but we also have word that James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson will be joining, as well. Wilson will be playing Mrs. Coulter, who you may remember as being played by Nicole Kidman in the film version, but the big get is McAvoy as Lord Asriel, taking over for Daniel Craig. Asriel is a complicated figure that can only benefit from McAvoy's fatherly Professor X demeanor and his wildly swinging mood work as seen in Split. 

So what do you folks think of this casting? It's been a hot minute since I've read the books - or about fifteen years, but who's counting - so I'm a bit rusty on the particulars, but overall I think this is a very solid collection of people for Hooper to completely misuse, especially Miranda. And who would you dorks want to see voicing Pantalaimon or the armored bear Iorek Byrnison? Sound off in the comments section with your predictions.