I remember looking forward to The Golden Compass’ 2007 adaptation from New Line Cinema and director Chris Weitz. Ultimately, the film ended up being kind of a lifeless portrayal of the first novel, but it certainly did have a lot going for it. Perhaps most notably, it had a great cast that included Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliot, and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards playing the lead role of Lyra Belacqua.

Unfortunately, the film didn’t do too well at the box office, and as a result, we didn’t get to see the story continue as we had hoped, leaving the next two legs of Lyra’s journey untold on the big screen. Over a decade later, we now have His Dark Materials, a TV adaptation of the same Philip Pullman trilogy, with Logan star Dafne Keen taking on the lead role this time around.

But what does Richards have to say about the TV adaptation? The actress had a chance to appear on His Darker Materials podcast, where she described her experience watching the new BBC series for the first time.

“It’s kind of strange to watch it, I watched it alone because I thought this is something I want to do by myself and not have other peoples’ opinions about it.”

RELATED – His Dark Materials Episode 3: ‘The Spies’ Review – A Set-Up Episode With Excellent Character Development

So, what did she think of it? Well, as I’ve noticed, it’s quite different from its film counterpart.

“What’s interesting about the series,” Richards said, “is I think because they have so much more time than we had, they get to fill that time kind of however they like. And there’s a lot of bits you see in the show that you don’t necessarily see in the books and certainly didn’t see in the film.

“So it is kind of like watching it fresh because there are a whole bunch of things I couldn’t anticipate. So it’s exciting and also strange. The show feels different enough for me watching it that I kind of forget it’s the same thing… or not the same thing, but based on the same thing.”

That’s definitely true. While the film and show are based on the same thing, there is an extra depth to the series, as it has more time to linger in scenes and moments and give actual motivation to what’s happening on screen. In an attempt not to scare audiences off, New Line Cinema cut down the length of the movie, hurting the overall quality of the film.

What do you think of the new series compared to the original movie? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: His Darker Materials (via NME)