TV
↖ Wendell Pierce,
John Krasinski,
and Michael Kelly
are on a mission
→ Lyra (Dafne Keen)
and her daemon,
Pan (voiced by Kit
Connor)
A GRIMM’S FAIRY TALE WITH THEMES
as big as its budget, His Dark Mate-
rials is an adventurous adaptation
of Philip Pullman’s book series.
Young orphan Lyra (Logan’s
Dafne Keen) lives in a world like
ours, with key differences: Society
is ruled by the Magisterium, a fore-
boding religious body, and humans
are accompanied by an animal
manifestation of their soul called
a daemon. Lyra and her daemon,
Pan (voiced by Kit Connor), dream
of traveling with her uncle Lord
Asriel (James McAvoy) to the
frozen North, a land that may hide
portals to other worlds. But when
Lyra’s friend Roger (Lewin Lloyd)
goes missing, the sophisticated
Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson)
persuades Lyra to come with her
to London to find him.
HDM quickly establishes Pull-
man’s rich, complicated world
(if you haven’t read the books, skim
Wikipedia before watching) and
sets Lyra on her hero’s journey.
Wilson is riveting as the mysterious
Mrs. Coulter; her sharp smile moves
with liquid smoothness between
maternal caring and menace. Keen,
an extraordinary talent, easily
conveys Lyra’s cocksure spirit and
fragile innocence; she’s a child actor
who is fully believable as a child.
A caveat: This review is based on
the first two episodes (out of eight),
so it’s impossible to say whether
HDM will fulfill its promise. But
so far, HBO’s new fantasy saga feels
like a page-turner. B+
His Dark Materials
DAT E Nov. 4
NETWORK
+ TIME HBO 9 PM
REVIEW BY Kristen Baldwin
@KristenGBaldwin
Jack Is Back
HOUSE OF CARDS STAR MICHAEL
Kelly says he jumped at the
chance to play a CIA station chief
in season 2 of Jack Ryan: “I was
like, ‘That sounds like a lot of fun,
’cause John’s awesome to work
with.’ ” He’s referring, of course,
to John Krasinski, who is back as
the titular operative. But while Kelly
first bonded with Krasinski over
a game of darts years ago, his
character, Mike November, isn’t so
thrilled to spend time with Krasin-
ski’s Jack. “[Mike’s] life was really
simple before he shows up,” says
Kelly. “Then all hell breaks loose.”
That hell kicks off when Jack
arrives at Mike’s Venezuelan
office while tracking a shipment
of illegal arms. What ensues is
a mission that sends Jack around
the globe—and reunites him with
Greer (Wendell Pierce), who begins
season 2 working in the Moscow
station. “Something I’m working
on intersects with something that
Jack is working on and it pulls
us back together,” Pierce shares
cryptically. Also entering the fray
is German intelligence agent
Harriet Baumann (Noomi Rapace).
“She’s a fighter,” the actress says
of “Harry,” who may be Jack’s
love interest or ally or nemesis—
or all three. “She knows how
to fight, and she can, but she’s
more playing mental and psycho-
logical games.”
And how does the leading man
feel about all these changes for
season 2? He’s a fan. “I feel like the
first season explored the beliefs of
who you are, what you believe you
are, but this is much more about
right and wrong,” says Krasinski.
“It’s about stopping a corrupt
regime, which is really kind of fun.”
He’s also enjoying his castmates.
“I couldn’t have been more happy
about Wendell in the first season,
but Noomi is the best part of the
new season. She’s such an inter-
esting actress. She’s so bold. She’s
so brilliant. And then Michael
Kelly, I’ve been a fan of his forever,”
he says. “What’s frustrating is
when these amazing actors come
in and they’re even better people
than they are actors, and you’re
like, ‘Oh, boy, you’re better than
me at everything.’ ” Even darts?
(Reporting by Tim Stack)
THE AMAZON PRIME VIDEO SPY SERIES TOM CLANCY’S JACK RYAN
RETURNS FOR A SECOND SEASON ON NOV. 1—AND EW WAS ON SET
FOR A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO THE NEW ACTION. BY PATRICK GOMEZ
EW ● COM NOVEMBER 2019 105
JACK RYAN: JENNIFER CLASEN/AMAZON; HIS DARK MATERIALS: HBO
