Fans have patiently waited for 2 years since “His Dark Materials” season 2 finished in December 2020. The last time we saw Will and Lyra, things were looking grim. Will’s dad John Parry was murdered, while Lyra was found and kidnapped by her mother Mrs. Coulter.
With the third and final season currently underway, viewers will finally learn the fate of the multiverse. In this interview with James McAvoy, the 43-year-old British actor talks about where his character Lord Asriel is at in season 3 and his quest to wage war against the Authority. Scroll to read more.
Set the scene for Asriel coming into the final season…
For Season One and Two, Asriel hasn’t been in it very much. But he spends a lot of time talking about the coming war against the Kingdom of heaven, and setting up his Republic of Heaven in face of their Kingdom of one. So I think you have to pay off on that which means that when we find him at the start of this final season he is much more the soldier. He is trying to bring that war in fact he’s almost a provocateur: one of the problems is even being noticed by the Kingdom. So he’s trying to make them notice him and trying to bring their gaze and their force down upon him so that he can get this thing going.
Where did you shoot?
Unlike Ruth [Wilson, Mrs Coulter], who got to enjoy the Pembrokeshire coast at its most beautiful I was mainly in the studio or on the back lot. But I did end up one day on a hillside with Adewale [Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Comnmander Ogunwe] in three layers of wool, a bulletproof vest and a wig. And it was like 41 degrees. I think it was the hottest day of the year to that point and we shot there the whole day. He and I, we kind of started wobbling at the end of the day. And he decked it! I was like, I should go help him. But I couldn’t – I just sat down and I couldn’t stand up. We were on the verge of heat exhaustion I think. And that was our only day where we got outside! The rest of the stuff was in the studio.
What is the intention craft and what was it like to take charge of it?
The intention craft is this mad, mental invention of Philip’s [Pullman] where the craft can sort of do anything you need it to do and become whatever you need it to become: you control it through the power of your intentions. In the book it’s a bit more narrative-y and MacGuffin-y and important than it is in the TV show. To the point where I hear Philip has said that he would have called the third book The Intention Craft, but it just wasn’t a good title. But in the short The Intention Craft is much more like Asriel’s Spitfire, much more his mode of transport and something he shoots stuff out of. Working with it was an experience: they put me on this massive gimbal, and it was all pre-rigged with hydraulics and everything. They went, ‘Okay, James, you ready? We’re gonna’ go for it…’ I was like, ‘This is gonna’ be fun. This is gonna’ be some serious shit.’ And then they went, ‘Action…’ And the thing just made a small noise and didn’t do much. It was pretty funny. It looks good though!
How do you approach playing a fantastical character rather than one grounded in reality?
I mean, my character, I can’t just play him normally because he does believe he’s a world changer. It’s not just a posture — he believes it. His ego is ginormous. One of the main arcs that he’s going through and that Mrs Coulter helps him along with is that he’s not the Messiah and he’s not Spartacus and he’s not the guy that’s going to change the world. He’s got a part to play, but he’s a cog in the machine as well. But somebody who is that massively in love with themselves needs someone else to break it to them gently. That’s where she comes in.
After three seasons playing Lord Asriel, do you feel you have a full grasp of the world of “His Dark Materials” – what Dust is; how the world’s overlap and interconnect and how Lyra fits in?
I feel like I’ve got a pretty decent grasp of what Dust is to the point where in season one, I was like, ‘Oh, listen, I don’t think we’re quite explaining what Dust is…’ and I had some strong opinions. I’ve read the books twice and I’ve listened to Philip narrate the books twice on trips back and forth to Wales for filming, which is a wonderful experience: listening to Philip narrate is absolutely gorgeous, and he comes up with a bit of a structure that you can’t quite ignore as it goes on and on and on. Every single time that I’ve gone through all the books, whether I’ve read them to myself or whether I’ve listened to them, I’ve found something else, or I’ve understood something better. And I’ve enjoyed it more. So I am well versed, but I feel that there’s always more to learn.
Do you think the story has as much to say now as it did when it was first published 20 years ago?
Possibly more. I think a book that’s making you question spiritual institutions at the same time as offering up a wholehearted belief in spiritualism and faith and a different idea of God – but one that still can coexist whilst you are somebody who questions institutional doctrine… the idea that it’s okay to challenge that and indeed that it’s part of the human experience… is beautiful. It’s not something to apologise for or to label as sin. Heaven is now. So make it f**king count. That’s really cool and I think it’s really pertinent too.
How will you look back on your time on “His Dark Materials”?
One of the important themes in the books is the power of stories. If I was ever going to get another tattoo it’d be a quote from the book: ‘Tell Them Stories.’ Very early in the first season it was clear that we had a bunch of people who were passionate about telling stories, whether it be through set or props or costume or special effects. You don’t always feel like that making film or TV. Sometimes you feel like you’re in amongst really clever technical geniuses and they’re going to do cool stuff, but it’s not everybody pulling together to tell that story. So that was really cool. But personally, I’ll take away that it’s just been an honour to be a part of something that I loved as a teenager. I have always weirdly loved and been attracted to the character of Asriel, even though he’s a questionable dude. I’ve just found him quite fascinating: probably because he was enigmatically missing from a lot of it! It’s just been an honour to get to tell that story, because I think it is a wicked story.
Catch “His Dark Materials’ Season 3 on HBO (Astro Ch 411) and HBO GO, with 2 new episodes premiering every Tuesday, and the finale episode on 27th December.
