After a two-year wait with nary release date in sight, we finally have a full trailer and a release date for His Dark Materials Season 3. The final season kicks off December 5, 2022 on HBO Max. And I am READY.

I read the Dark Materials trilogy all the way through three full times before the ill-fated and terribly executed 2007 movie of Book 1 – The Golden Compass – was even announced. Yes, that makes me feel as superior as it sounds.

I love this trilogy with my whole heart. And I was VERY excited for the movie. And very disappointed by it – as was anyone who loves these books. Fast-forward 12(!!) years and we finally get an adaptation (almost) worthy of the books with the HBO Max series.

This must be a particularly difficult trilogy to adapt because even the very well-executed, star-studded HBO Max series doesn’t quite do the books justice, and hasn’t garnered the critical claim I think it deserves. This could be due in part to the fact that the books center around some pretty controversial issues – basically severely demonizing organized religion and flipping the notions of heaven, hell, angels and demons on their head in a way that could be touchy for a mainstream service like HBO Max to fully explore the way it is in the books.

Regardless, the series is great and I can’t wait for the final season. I would normally say please go read the books first, but there is nothing worse than reading a book right before watching the TV or movie adaptation. It’s never the same or as good and all you can focus on are the differences. I made this mistake exactly once – in 2005 with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I could not enjoy the movie at all because all I could think about was what parts were skipped or changed from the books. It was awful and ruined what is arguably the best Harry Potter movie for me. And I’ve never repeated that mistake again!