His Dark Materials boss explains big change in season 3

Some things just don't translate from page to screen.

By Katie Francis

23 Jan 2023

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BBC

His Dark Materials' three seasons are up, despite initial plans for more.

And, while there's a chance that there could be further adventures based in this world yet to come, for now we're all still processing the huge finale the show gave us.

Those who haven't read the books, however, might not know that one major element of season three – that of the Mulefa – was altered dramatically for television.

The Mulefa are super-intelligent, super-empathetic creatures, which in the book have no spines, diamond-shape skeletons, and roll around on huge seed pods.

For the show, the design of the animals was (with Philip Pullman's permission), hugely toned down.

The show's visual effects supervisor, Russell Dodgson, explained this move.

He explained (via Metro) that Pullman was keen to keep the seed pod element, but allowed a lot of flexibility otherwise. And, this allowed the team to create something a lot more relatable to us folk in the real world... and admittedly, much cuter.

Speaking of the 'diamond-shaped skeleton', Dodgson shared "That one sentence, which sounds cool, could really derail the authenticity of the creature or character for the rest of the show.

"So we decided that we weren’t going to try and come up with exactly that, because at the same time they were meant to be elegant. They were meant to be beautiful and seem super-intelligent."

amir wilson, dafne keen, his dark materials season 3

BBC

So, they created something a bit more familiar to us, so we wouldn't be focusing on the creatures' bone structure or strange movements when we should have been focusing on their wisdom.

He continued, "A big thing for us is authenticity. You very quickly have to fall in love with a character and believe that they’re real. So we always want something that’s authentic and grounded so that the audience can get there quickly."

He has a point; I don't think anyone could fail to fall in love with the magical baby elephant-looking Mulefa adapted for the show.

And, to those who might not like this change?

Dodgson wisely says "Even if people criticise aspects of the show because they veer away from the book, it’s all very valid. We made our choices to make our adaptation with as much passion as we could with the resources that we had. If you don’t do that with confidence and pride, then what are we doing?"

His Dark Materials is available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO in the US.