Spoiler Warning for His Dark Materials Season 1-2His Dark Materialsis set to release its third and final season on December 5th, 2022, on HBOmax. Fans will be reunited with our brilliant, clever, and charming protagonist, Lyra Silvertongue (played by Dafne Keen), on her journey to understand Dust. She will have the help of her latest companion Will Parry (played by Amir Wilson), whose destiny was intertwined with hers long before they met and is ultimately what brought them together.
The second season ends with high stakes as the two are unknowingly separated. After having dreams that seem to be leading Will toward his father, whom he has been searching for, he leaves Lyra asleep with one of the witches who had been accompanying them on their journey. During this time, Lyra’s mother, Marisa Coulter (played by Ruth Wilson), discovers Lyra and kidnaps her while she sleeps.
Will is reunited with his father and reveals to him that he is the Knife Bearer, the same person that John (played by Andrew Scott) had been searching for. Unfortunately, John meets his demise while protecting Will from Magisterium soldiers that have invaded the world in search of Asriel (played by James McAvoy). Will doesn’t know what has happened to Lyra yet, and neither of them knows about Lee Scoresby’s sacrifice to bring John to them.
With so much left for our main characters to discover, mysteries to solve, and adventures to have, there is much to look forward to in thefinal installment ofHis Dark Materials.Let’s explore what we hope to see for the third season and how the series might resolve.
Reuniting Lyra and Will
It will first be imperative that Will and Lyra reunite. Upon returning to where he left Lyra, Will will make the disturbing discovery that something bad has happened. Lyra wouldn’t wander off alone, even if she had gone looking for Will. Plus, the witch traveling with them was attacked by a Spectre, so if she is not dead, she will be devoid of everything that makes her human andinstead be a zombie, no longer able to help them. Perhaps the other witch, Serafina Pekkala (played by Ruta Gedmintas), will make her way back to the site and can assist Will in figuring out where Lyra is and how he can get to her.
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Another character we hope will finally meet up with Lyra and Will is Mary Malone (played by Simone Kirby). Doctor Malone followed Lyra into the alternate world and has survived thanks to the help of Dust or, as we now know them, the Angels. If she can find her way to Will in the canyon, then perhaps she can also provide assistance in figuring out what happened to Lyra. With this team together, it likely won’t take long for them to figure out that Lyrahas been kidnappedby Ms. Coulter.
Lyra, of course, will wake up to a shock as she discovers herself locked in a trunk by her mother. There will likely be a confrontation between the two, and if we know Lyra, she will find a way to escape. Once she has made her escape or perhaps been rescued, she can refocus her attention on her mission to get to the source of Dust.
Getting to the Source of Dust
While Lyra had hoped to get to the source of Dust before Asriel, it seemed he knew where to look. At the end of season 2, Lord Asriel calls out to Dust in an unknown world or location, and they respond to him. They let him know they are on his side and will back his plan. And whatLord Asriel wants is a waragainst the Magisterium in his world. The government entity is highly corrupt and considers Dust to be original sin and condemns those who seek to understand it.
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Instead, they funded the project led by Marisa Coulter to attempt to separate children from the daemons to keep them from being corrupted by said sin as adults. They wanted to create a pure world free from the temptations of sin.
Of course, Lyra is not yet aware of what Dust actually is and what exactly Lord Asriel wants from them. We hope to see that revealed in season 3 and find out what Lyra plans to do about that once she knows what he wants. Lord Asriel did indeed kill her best friend in order to findthe source of Dust, but he wants to destroy a government system that is corrupt and seeks to control people.
With the Angels on his side, Lyra might be tempted to put aside what he did to get there, but perhaps there is more to Asriel’s plan than has yet been revealed to us. We know that Lyra is destined to restore free will to her world and perhaps free them from the very same fate that she is unknowingly being led by.
Do the Angels want the two to work together? They have communicated with Lyra through the alethiometer, protected Doctor Malone, and even revealed themselves to Asriel. There is no doubt that Dust will play a much more active role in the following season, but what exactly they have planned, we have yet to find out.
