His Dark Materials team on ending the series: “It’s sad to say goodbye”
"We've created a different world that didn't exist before, so it's a difficult thing to let go of."
With all the excitement that has built up for the third season of His Dark Materials to finally reach screens, it can be easy to forget it will also be tinged with sadness as it is in fact the final season.
This is perhaps even more acute for the people who make the show, and a few of them caught up with RadioTimes.com exclusively ahead of their panel at this year's BFI & Radio Times Television Festival.
When asked how she feels about the season ending, Mrs Coulter actress Ruth Wilson explained: "We said goodbye to it last year. And it was sad. It was really sad to say goodbye to monkey and [lead puppeteer] Brian [Fisher] and everyone.
"But we'll work again together. I've loved this job so much because of the collaboration. And it's made it such a special experience. So I think that hopefully we'll get to work again, we might even set up a duo, just the four of us, five of us. OK, a quin-o!"
Meanwhile, Russell Dodgson, VFX supervisor of the show, acknowledged that while he is actually still in the process of making the show, and is "at home sweating and crying every single say", what made the series special was that it gave "an absolutely crazy opportunity for people like myself, Brian and Caroline to be so involved in the process. And it's such a rewarding experience to go through."
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Costume designer Caroline McCall agreed, saying: "We've created a different world that didn't exist before. And we've all been part of that and played our part in that. So it's a difficult thing to let go of because we've had ownership of it. And now we've said goodbye."
Elsewhere in their chat with RadioTimes.com, Wilson said that working on the series was "the first time that I've worked so closely with so many different departments in a job" and the chance to acknowledge those crew members was what particularly drew her to taking part in the show's BFI & Radio Times Television Festival panel.
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She said she wanted to "express and to show people how much it takes to put not only Mrs Coulter on the screen, but also the monkey. And it takes more than just one person, it's a lot of collaborators. So this is why we're doing this really is to show people how much work it takes and who's involved."
The team also teased that the new season will be the "most ambitious" yet, making that wait to see it all the more difficult.
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.
His Dark Materials returns to BBC One and HBO this autumn. For more, check out our dedicated Fantasy page or our full TV Guide.
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