Voice Cast Revealed for HBO’s HIS DARK MATERIALS
Following the previously announced cast for HIS DARK MATERIALS (Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy and Lin-Manuel Miranda) — the vocal talent behind several daemons and other animal characters in the drama series is now revealed.
Background information:
HIS DARK MATERIALS, adapted from Philip Pullman’s award-winning trilogy of the same name, follows Lyra (Keen), a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust. The drama series explores a world in which sentient, talking animals are found in two ways: daemons and armored bears. Each human in the series is accompanied by their daemon which is the physical manifestation of a person’s soul and a reflection of their inner self and their lifelong companion through the world. Daemons take on the appearance of an animal, but with the voice and the intelligence of a human. In childhood, a daemon can change its animal form at will, but at a certain stage of adolescence a daemon ‘settles’ into its final form — forever reflecting the character of their person.
Voice Cast Details:
Helen McCrory (Harry Potter) voices Stelmaria, Lord Asriel’s (McAvoy) daemon which is a Snow Leopard. David Suchet (Poirot) is Kaisa, gyrfalcon daemon to the witch Serafina Pekkala (played by Ruta Gedmintas). Aeronaut Lee Scoresby’s (Miranda) daemon is an arctic hare called Hester, voiced by American comedian Cristela Alonzo and Lyra Belacqua’s (Keen) unsettled daemon, Pantalaimon, is voiced by Kit Connor (Rocketman). Mrs Coulter’s (Wilson) mysterious daemon, a Golden Monkey, doesn’t speak or have a name but his animal noises and vocal characteristics will be created by Brian Fisher (Detective Pikachu), who also serves as the lead puppeteer and CFX Coordinator on the series. Puppets were used on set to help the actors form a relationship with their daemon before being created in CGI by Framestore.
Iorek Byrnison, a bear who Lyra meets on her quest will be voiced by Joe Tandberg (The Innocents). In the frozen wilderness of the North exists a race of armored bears (or panserbjørne). Both skilled metal workers and fierce warriors, they have their own culture and laws.
Credit Information:
HIS DARK MATERIALS is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO. Executive producing the series are: Dan McCulloch, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf; Philip Pullman, Jack Thorne, Tom Hooper, Otto Bathhurst; Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood for New Line Cinema; and Ben Irving and Piers Wenger for BBC One.
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