The BBC has made a big glossy adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials fantasy novels, aligning such stars as James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Logan‘s Dafne Keen to bring Pullman’s epic world of daemons and alternate realities to life. You can watch the first trailer right here…

Pullman’s books – Northen Lights (known in the US as The Golden Compass), The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass – were previously pegged for the big screen treatment, with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman among the stars that lent their pedigree to Chris Weitz’s cinematic adaptation of The Golden Compass in 2007. That franchise failed to ignite, but there are high hopes for the BBC’s new version.

Jack Thorne (Harry Potter And The Cursed Child) has shepherded this new version of His Dark Materials through development and production, and the Beeb is so impressed with his first series that they’ve already ordered series 2.

Anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Here’s the trailer for His Dark Materials series 1…

His Dark Materials is expected to premiere this year, although an exact release date has yet to be pegged down. We know that BBC One will handle the UK broadcast and HBO will take the American rights, though, and we also know to expect eight episodes in each season of the show.

As we hear more, we’ll be sure to let you know.