His Dark Materials lovers, you might want to sit down for this: author Philip Pullman just announced that his beloved trilogy is about to get three more books, with the first book being published as early as 19 October 2017. Oh my God.
The new trilogy, which comes 17 years after the publication of The Amber Spyglass, will be called The Book Of Dust. But instead of being a sequel or prequel series as you’d expect, The Book Of Dust will be an “equel” series set around the same time as His Dark Materials.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Pullman said: “It’s a different story which begins roughly ten years before His Dark Materials and ends roughly ten years after.
“At the centre of The Book Of Dust is the struggle between a despotic and totalitarian organisation, which wants to stifle speculation and inquiry, and those who believe thought and speech should be free.”
Not much is known about the new trilogy’s main protagonist, but we know it won’t revolve around Lyra Belacua. Instead, Pullman revealed that “an ordinary boy” from early in the His Dark Materials story will return to lead the adventure.
“The story about Lyra that we read in His Dark Materials is finished, that story came to its conclusion, but there are other stories that can be told about the people in the book and the world in the book,” Pullman said. “One of them has been occupying my imagination for quite some time.”
What did we ever do to deserve this marvellous news?
The announcement comes shortly after a different announcement that the His Dark Materials books – Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass – is currently being adapted into a miniseries for the BBC. Heaven knows we need it after that awful, awful 2004 The Golden Compass film.
The Book Of Dust will be released on 19 October 2017. Get all the latest fantasy news with every issue of SciFiNow.
