EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe-winning actor Terence Stamp, Last Christmas star Jade Anouka and Peaky Blinders actress Simone Kirby are joining the cast of His Dark Materials for the second season.
The BBC and HBO drama, made by Bad Wolf, is gearing up for Season 2 later this year, and will be based on The Subtle Knife — the second book in Philip Pullman’s acclaimed trilogy of novels about the adventures of Lyra Belacqua.
Ahead of His Dark Materials being the focus of a San Diego Comic-Con session today, Deadline can reveal that Stamp is joining the cast as Giacomo Paradisi, the bearer of the Subtle Knife who lives in the Torre de Angeli (Tower of the Angels) in Cittàgazze.
Stamp, who won a Globe and was Oscar-nominated for his performance in 1962’s Billy Budd, is no stranger to His Dark Materials having previously featured in a BBC Radio 4 dramatization of Pullman’s work. Stamp’s other work includes starring in Superman as General Zod and The Adjustment Bureau.
Anouka, who has starred in dramas including Cleaning Up, will play witch queen Ruta Skadi, who joins forces with Serafina Pekkala against the Magisterium. Kirby, who recently appeared in Artemis Fowl, features as Dr Mary Malone, the head of a Dark Matter Research Team at an Oxford University in our world.
They join the likes of Dafne Keen, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott, Amir Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda in the Jack Thorne-penned franchise. At the end of Season 1, Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) opened a bridge to a new world, and Lyra (Keen) follows him into the unknown. In Season 2, Lyra finds herself in the mysterious abandoned city of Cittàgazze, where she meets Will.