HBO’s Underrated Fantasy Series: His Dark Materials Deserves More Praise

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While HBO is well-known for hits like Game of Thrones, their series His Dark Materials is equally deserving of praise. It’s unusual for fantasy shows to maintain their quality over time, and many popular ones tend to decline as the story progresses.

As a total fantasy fan, I thought His Dark Materials was incredible from beginning to end. It really felt like each season just kept improving on the last, and critics seemed to agree – it consistently scored around 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a shame though, because despite being a truly fantastic series from HBO, it never quite reached the same level of cultural buzz as Game of Thrones did. It deserved to!

His Dark Materials Should’ve Been HBO’s Stranger Things

His Dark Materials And Stranger Things Have Several Things In Common

Many streaming services have wished they could replicate the success of Stranger Things. HBO’s His Dark Materials had a lot going for it – it shared similar elements like a young cast, multiple worlds, and a suspenseful atmosphere – and could have been just as popular, but it didn’t quite reach the same widespread audience.

Several things likely caused His Dark Materials to not gain as much popularity as Stranger Things. It launched the same year as the controversial finale of Game of Thrones, and many initially saw it as a replacement, even though the two shows were quite different. Once viewers realized Game of Thrones and His Dark Materials weren’t similar, the show struggled to maintain initial interest.

While Stranger Things was a fresh start for many viewers, His Dark Materials had already been attempted as a movie, but it wasn’t well-received. This made people hesitant to try the TV series, fearing it might also disappoint. His Dark Materials struggled to gain traction with both critics and audiences from the beginning – its first season received a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the 97% achieved by the first season of Stranger Things.

How Faithful His Dark Materials Was To The Books

His Dark Materials Remained True To The Original Story

Bringing fantasy stories to TV or film is often challenging because these shows require a lot of detailed world-building. The creators of His Dark Materials understood this, learning from the previous adaptation of Philip Pullman’s books, The Golden Compass, and other fantasy series that it’s crucial to remain faithful to the original story.

While HBO’s series did make some changes to Philip Pullman’s books – like introducing Will earlier and giving Serafina Pekkala a different daemon – the core story remained largely the same. Many key elements from the books were still faithfully adapted.

His Dark Materials Understood The Most Important Thing About Fantasy Shows

His Dark Material Didn’t Try To Emulate Other Fantasy TV Shows

While His Dark Materials didn’t aim to become the next Game of Thrones, comparisons were inevitable, largely due to the desire to match HBO’s massive success with that series. Thankfully, the creators of His Dark Materials realized they didn’t need to follow Game of Thrones‘s formula to create a truly excellent show.

It’s been six years since Game of Thrones ended, and many new fantasy shows still feel like they need to live up to its success. Shows like The Wheel of Time, Shadow & Bone, and The Rings of Power were all expected to be the next big fantasy hit, or at least achieve a similar level of popularity. However, His Dark Materials remained true to its own style, and that approach ultimately worked for it, even if it didn’t get as much mainstream attention.

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2026-03-02 00:31