Philip Pullman's final BOOK OF DUST novel, THE ROSE FIELD, will be released this October

Philip Pullman has confirmed the final novel in his Book of Dust trilogy, the prequel/sequel series to His Dark Materials, will be called The Rose Field and will be published on 23 October.

Pullman published the three volumes of His Dark Materials - Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass - in 1995, 1997 and 2000. The trilogy won immense critical acclaim and was adapted for television as a three-season show by the BBC and HBO, as well as a failed movie adaptation in 2007.

Pullman mooted a prequel/sequel series (starting before the events of His Dark Materials and skipping to after) called The Book of Dust for many years before finally releasing the first two volumes, La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. The third book will apparently be the last one about the character of Lyra.

Producers confirm three-season run for HIS DARK MATERIALS

His Dark Materials executive producer Jane Tranter has confirmed that Bad Wolf Productions are currently planning to adapt Philip Pullman's novel trilogy across three seasons. This is a change from when the series was announced in 2017, when the BBC was considering adapting the books as 40 episodes to air across five seasons.

The reason for the change seems to be a simple one: the age of the young stars. Actress Dafne Keen, who is playing the protagonist Lyra (who is 11 when the events of the books begin), was 13 when they started shooting, is 14 now and will turn 15 during production of the second season (started to begin imminently). Actor Amir Wilson, who has been cast as Will for the second season, is in a similar situation. A five-season run would make both around 18-19 when the show ends, which would be difficult to make work for the story.

The move also makes it far more likely that the series will be completed. Season 1, adapting Northern Lights (known as The Golden Compass in some territories), will likely air in October or November this year. Season 2, adapting The Subtle Knife, is already greenlit and in pre-production. That makes it much more likely that the BBC and their American funding partner, HBO, will greenlight a third and final season, adapting The Amber Spyglass. The Amber Spyglass is significantly longer than the first two books, but it's also generally accepted to be the weakest of the three novels and could probably benefit from some judicious editing.

If the series is successful, it'll be interesting to see if the BBC and HBO move on to an adaptation of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy, where serves as both as a prequel and sequel series to His Dark Materials.

Release date and extract for Philip Pullman's THE BOOK OF DUST

The first book in  Philip Pullman's The Book of Dust, a trilogy serving as both prequel and sequel to His Dark Materials, will be called La Belle Sauvage and will be released on 19 October 2017.

Illustration by Chris Wormell.

The Guardian has an extract from the novel here.

Philip Pullman to publish HIS DARK MATERIALS sequel trilogy

Philip Pullman has - surprisingly - announced that he has written a sequel trilogy to His Dark Materials, and the first book will be published on 19 October this year.

Philip Pullman published his critically-acclaimed His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy (Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) for young readers between 1995 and 2000. Regarded as darker and more challenging than the contemporary Harry Potter series, the trilogy has sold over 22 million copies and spawned an unsuccessful movie adaptation, The Golden Compass, in 2007. Since completing the trilogy he has published two further stand-alone novels, The Scarecrow and His Servant (2004) and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (2010).

Over a decade ago Pullman started working on a Dark Materials companion volume, called The Book of Dust. He made it clear this was not going to be a fully-fledged sequel, but a companion book expanding on some of the worldbuilding elements in the original trilogy (most notably, the nature of the substance "dust"). Pullman has occasionally mentioned it in interviews as something he was tinkering with, not giving any impression it was a major project.

That, it turns out, was a bit of an understatement. The book has ballooned into a fully-sized sequel trilogy, The Book of Dust, which will take place in two different time periods. It will incorporate elements from Lyra Belacqua's childhood as a prequel to the main trilogy, but it will also explore the life and times of a grown-up Lyra some thirty years later. Pullman confirms that other Dark Materials characters will also appear, making this simultaneously a prequel and sequel to the original trilogy.

David Fickling Books will released Book 1 - still to have its title confirmed - in October. It's unclear if Pullman has completed the entire trilogy (you'd hope so, given the length of time it's taken), but the publishers have said it won't take seventeen years for the next volume to arrive.

Excellent news. Although His Dark Materials lost its way towards the end (when people in gyrocopters started shooting down angels with miniguns), the trilogy was weird, offbeat and challenging. Here's hoping the pre-sequel is in a similar vein. And has more armoured polar bears!

Meanwhile, the BBC and New Line Studios have teamed up to produce a new TV series based on His Dark Materials. The series is expected to unfold over four eight-episode seasons. Casting is currently underway with production due to start in Wales in the next few months for a likely 2018 debut.