HBO has announced when His Dark Materials season 2 will premiere. The long-awaited second season will be released on Monday, November 16th at 9/8c on HBO and HBO Max simultaneously. In addition, it has been revealed that the writers are already working on season 3. Writer Jack Thorne said, "Series 1 was about Lyra looking for a path. Now she needs to know what person she's going to be on that path. And in Series 3, you see what she's going to do with this path."

His Dark Materials season 2 begins after Lord Asriel has opened a bridge to a new world, and, distraught over the death of her best friend, Lyra follows Asriel into the unknown. In a strange and mysterious abandoned city she meets Will, a boy from our world who is also running from a troubled past. Lyra and Will learn their destinies are tied to reuniting Will with his father but find their path is constantly thwarted as a war begins to brew around them. Meanwhile, Mrs. Coulter searches for Lyra, determined to bring her home by any means necessary.

Season two series regulars include Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Amir Wilson, Ariyon Bakare, Andrew Scott, Will Keen, Ruta Gedmintas, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Joining the His Dark Materials cast this season are Terence Stamp, Jade Anouka, and Simone Kirby. Season 1 adapted Phillip Pullman's The Norther Lights and season 2 adapts The Subtle Knife. Since Pullman wrote a trilogy, it only makes sense that the writers would be working on what will become The Amber Spyglass.

When His Dark Materials was given the green light by HBO, executive producer Jane Tranter knew they would have to do two seasons back to back. The reasoning was because of 14-year old Dafne Keen, who plays Lyra Belacqua on the series. Waiting a whole year in between seasons could have seen the young actress change too much physically. Tranter explains.

"Suddenly they're six inches taller and they're a different shape and their voices are different. Our feeling was we really couldn't leave more than a very small gap between the end of when Dafne Keen finished filming, which was December 2018, and when she started again, July 2019. That was basically the biggest gap that we could possibly do and still have her come back and convincingly look like it was moments, hours later [in season 2]. The BBC and HBO very kindly said, 'Let's make 16 episodes across the two books and go for it.' So, I consider it more of a staggered, large first commitment rather than, 'Oooh! Here's two seasons up front.'"

His Dark Materials is produced by Bad Wolf in association with New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO. Executive producing the series are Jane Tranter, Dan McCulloch, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf; Philip Pullman, Jack Thorne, Tom Hooper; Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood for New Line Cinema; and Ben Irving and Piers Wenger for the BBC. You can check out a new poster for season 2 above, thanks to the HBO PR Twitter account.

His Dark Materials poster