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SYFY WIRE His Dark Materials

WIRE Buzz: New His Dark Materials novella; Rob Liefeld drops 36 Snake Eyes covers; more

By Nivea Serrao & James Comtois
Lyra Belacqua in Trollesund, His Dark Materials Season 1

Looks like Lyra will be travelling North once again — this time in the form of a new His Dark Materials novella by author Phillip Pullman.

Titled Serpentine, the story will be set after the initial best-selling trilogy, but before the latest book in the series, The Secret Commonwealth, and will see a teenage Lyra return to a town called Trollesund where she'd first met armored bear Iorek Byrnisson and aeronaut Lee Scoresby, while on a quest to rescue her friend Roger. This time, she'll be returning in search of the witch-consul Dr. Lansellius, a man she last visited as a child, as she looks for answers to a bigger problem, namely why she and her daemon Pantalaimon can separate for long periods of time without feeling much pain — something very few people in her world can do. 

Penguin Random House announced they’ll be publishing the latest instalment in what has come to be called “The Book of Dust sequence” on October 15, with the novella’s release coinciding with the 25th-anniversary of The Golden Compass, the first book in the best-selling initial trilogy. 

Serpentine's cover was illustrated by Tom Doxbury, with more illustrations by the artist to be featured within the novella. 

Serpentine by Philip Pullman Book Cover Illustrated by Tom Doxbury

But that’s not the only thing HDM fans can look forward to this fall. The HBO series will be returning for its second season, with the latest episodes adapting the events of The Subtle Knife, the second book in the trilogy. 


Rob Liefeld is back with a bang, with IDW publishing launching the first issue of his latest series, Snake Eyes: Deadgame, with 36 exclusive variant covers — 9 of which are illustrated by Liefeld himself. 

The comic, which is written and illustrated by the Deadpool co-creator, will tell the story of G.I. Joe character Snake Eyes as he is forced to face his past, and the secrets that lie within it. 

The variant covers — which you can see below — are all retail and convention exclusives. Snake Eyes: Deadgame will hit comic book stores on July 15. 

Snake Eyes Deadgame Issue 1 Variant Covers
Snake Eyes Deadgame Issue 1 Variant Covers pt2

The comic was meant to follow the release of Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, a film centring on the popular ninja, who'll be played by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians). The release date has since been pushed back to Oct. 23. 

The film also stars Samara Weaving (Scarlett), Úrsula Corberó (The Baroness), Iko Uwais (Hard Master), Andrew Koji (Storm Shadow), Steven Allerick (Snake Eyes' Father), Takehiro Hira, and Haruka Abe, with Evan Spiliotopoulos (Beauty and the Beast 2017) having written the script, and Robert Schwentke (Flightplan, Red) having directed it. 


Amazon Studios is developing a series about a ghost hunter. As in, a ghost that’s hunting down the living. 

Daniel Dae Kim's production company 3AD has announced that the studio has bought the original pilot Tether, a supernatural drama written by Kevin Hamedani and Travis Betz. Kim, who will executive produce, brought the project to Amazon through 3AD as part of his first-look deal with the studio.

Daniel Dae Kim

Tether tells the story of Madelyn Woods, a woman hellbent on finding the people who kidnapped her husband and son and murdered her. Problem is, since Madelyn’s now a ghost, she’s tethered to the house in which she died (not unlike Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice). So, Madelyn must find a way to escape her supernatural prison and save her family.

Hamedani and Betz will also serve as showrunners and executive producers.

In addition to the series, sources tell SYFY WIRE that 3AD is also in talks to develop a graphic novel series within the same narrative universe, but details are being kept under wraps.