About “His Dark Materials” in a few words:

His Dark Materials is a television series based on the book series of the same name by Philip Pullman. Set in a parallel universe, the series follows the journey of Lyra, a young orphan girl who sets out on a quest to uncover a sinister plot involving missing children and a mysterious substance called Dust. Along the way, she encounters a variety of characters, including armored bears, witches, and a young boy named Will. With stunning visuals, exceptional acting, and a gripping storyline, His Dark Materials is a must-watch for fans of fantasy and adventure.

Meet the characters from His Dark Materials

Iorek Byrnison

Oh man, Iorek is literally the best big grumpy bear you’ll ever read about — a true armoured giant with a strict code of honor and a soft spot he would never admit to. He’s fierce in battle and stubborn as a mountain, but also kind of like a giant teddy if you ignore the whole “arms of iron” thing. He fixes metal, loves smithing (and naps?), and respects strength and fairness above all, which makes him surprisingly noble for someone who can crush you with one paw. He hates being bossed around but will follow the right leader without question, and gets oddly sentimental about lost armor — like he’s got a secret nostalgia for shiny things.

Will Parry

Will is the quiet, practical type who’s been thrown into absurd responsibility and somehow keeps going — he’s brave, tense, and always just a little bit haunted. He’s the one carrying the knife and the weight of fate, but he’s also a kid who likes to read maps and maybe doodle in the margins when he’s allowed; I’m pretty sure he names his shoes or something small and ridiculous when stressed. He rarely says much but when he does it matters, and there’s this steady loyalty to the people he loves that makes him dangerous in the best way. He’s reactive and cautious, but he can snap into fearless mode in a heartbeat, which is terrifyingly effective.

Mary Mallone

Mary Mallone (yes yes, the science lady — I know her name wobbles in my head sometimes) is this brilliant, curious physicist who somehow manages to be both deeply empirical and completely open to the magical-nonsense of other worlds. She does lab notebooks, headphones, and a weird habit of talking to doughnut-shaped machines like they’re temperamental cats — she’s practical, maternal, and unexpectedly philosophical. She starts as a skeptic and becomes maybe the most open-hearted believer you’d never expect, and there’s something tender about how she comforts lost souls and also calibrates particle detectors. Oh, and she probably loves tea and terrible puns, or maybe that’s just me projecting.

Lyra Silvertongue

Lyra is chaos personified but also ridiculously clever; she lies, charms, and sometimes outright connives her way through the cosmos and somehow it always works out (or explodes spectacularly). She’s curious to the point of danger, fiercely loyal to friends, and has this childlike bluntness — plus a knack for getting impossibly useful gossip and undoing adult plans with one well-placed fib. She keeps the alethiometer close like a security blanket and is equal parts mischief and fierce heart, simultaneously selfish and self-sacrificing, which is what makes her so maddeningly real. Also, she hates being told what to do but secretly loves maps and keepsakes, and I’m not saying she collects buttons but, uh, maybe.

Lee Scoresby

Lee is the best kind of weathered Texan pilot — always with a cigarette (maybe not smoking? he probably went through a phase), a grin, and a too-big hat that could hide a thousand jokes. He’s loyal to his friends like a dog, pompous in the best way, and willing to fly into literal hell if it saves someone he cares about, which is both reckless and heroically stubborn. He tells tall tales, drinks suspiciously good coffee, and seems like the jokester until you realize he’s also the one who will get shot if it helps the cause. There’s an old-soul vibe and a goofy one, and those two keep bumping into each other and making him unexpectedly lovable.

Carlo Boreal

Carlo is the suave, cultured villain who smiles while planning your ruin and goes to opera recitals in between betrayals — a proper gentleman with poison in his cufflinks. He’s elegant, clever, and chillingly charming, the kind of person who could sell you a lifetime and file the paperwork for your doom with a bow. He loves languages, fine wines, and apparently paradoxes — basically, the sociopath who read too many travel guides and then decided people are just chess pieces. He’s slippery, sophisticated, and somehow infuriatingly magnetic; you don’t quite trust him, but you can’t look away.

Serafina Pekkala

Serafina is witch-queen energy: calm, ancient, and bittersweet with a sense of destiny that sits like a soft shawl around her shoulders. She’s wise and maternal but also capable of cold, precise fury when her people or her friends are threatened — so graceful and then suddenly wow, storms. She likes to wander migrations and give cryptic advice, sometimes in the form of poems or embarrassing metaphors, and she seems to be carrying centuries of small regrets (and probably a fondness for knitted things). There’s romance and loneliness braided into her wig of wisdom, and she’s one of those characters who looks composed but is quietly heartbroken — and also probably collects feathers.

Marisa Coulter

Marisa is glamorous, terrifying, and brilliant — all sheen and steel with a smile that bought a thousand doors closed and opened the ones she wanted. She’s manipulative in the most affectionate way possible, which is to say she loves like it’s a strategic move and motherhood happens to be part of her arsenal; also she probably owns 90% of the world’s best hats. She’s elegant cruelty one minute and a desperate, complicated tenderness the next, which makes her both captivating and impossible to trust, but you’re always watching her because she’s undeniably interesting. There’s a performative calm — pearls, perfect gloves — and beneath it a chaotic, desperate heartbeat that keeps flipping the script.

Lord Asriel

Lord Asriel is huge, relentless ambition in human form; he strides through worlds like he owns the map and burns bridges as a scenic route. He’s brilliant, remorselessly obsessed with breaking the skies open for a “higher” purpose, and will sacrifice anything (and probably feelings) to prove his theories, which makes him both tragic and terrifying. Charismatic in the old-world, described-as-colonial magnate way, he inspires followers and leaves wreckage, and you can see why people would both respect and fear him. He loves Lyra in a very complicated, not-always-nice way — big ideas mean sacrifices, right? — and that contradiction is basically the engine of his whole character.