The battle against Metatron is now in full swing on the HBO show—but humanity won’t go down without a fight and neither will their leader Lord Asriel (James McAvoy) or former show villain Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson).
In the penultimate episode, titled The Clouded Mountain, the pair go head-to-head against the angel in scenes that are some of the most memorable from Philip Pullman’s novel The Amber Spyglass but are slightly different to the original. This, McAvoy and Wilson told Newsweek, was by design.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the penultimate episode of ‘His Dark Materials’ Season 3.
His Dark Materials: James McAvoy and Ruth Wilson on Their Final Showdown
In The Clouded Mountain, Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter face Metatron (played by Alex Hassell) separately, with the angel forcing Asriel to fight another version of himself while simultaneously trying to seduce Mrs Coulter to betray everyone and join him, even offering her the chance to take his place.
This scene is markedly different from the book, in which Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter paired up to defeat Metatron from the get-go and hold the angel together as they push him into the abyss. Wilson found changing the book’s original narrative was “really interesting” because it made more sense for their characters.
“In the books, it’s quite a sort of [different] moment, they collude behind a rock, and then they decide to go out together,” Wilson reflected, to which McAvoy joked: “They’re going, ‘hey Metatron, you stay there we need to just have a quick chat.’”
The scene in the show instead makes viewers question Mrs Coulter’s loyalties, which suits the character’s arc more than her suddenly turning to the good side, according to Wilson.
“I think because the nature of what Mrs Coulter has already been through in two seasons, plus what [Asriel] was going through in this season, they’re slightly different versions of the Mrs Coulter and Asriel in the book,” Wilson said.
“So they had to come together in this moment, even though they’ve actually been quite [at] odds with each other for the last however many episodes, and we sort of landed on this idea of it being separate journeys that come together.
“They both have to fight Metatron, or deal with themselves or deal with the worst sides of themselves, and prove that. So that was really interesting that we sort of went through that process that’s very different from what happens in the book.”
Mrs Coulter and Asriel’s fate, and their joint effort to defeat Metatron, is the same as the book in the end, but Wilson preferred the way it took place in the show.
“Even though the ultimate end is the same, it was a different journey to get there,” the Luther star said. “I think it was ultimately more satisfying because otherwise the turn will be too quick and you kind of had to have them both go through their own personal demons to get to the other side. So I hope it works and people are happy with it because it is slightly different.”
McAvoy agreed with his co-star, and added: “I think there was a really interesting thing that the TV show has done, where it’s sort of, ‘will she or won’t she?’ a little bit with Mrs. Coulter—which, in the book, by that point, it sort of disappeared.
“But there’s a little bit where you’re almost playing with: ‘Has she gone full good? Is she still good? Does she actually feel good, or is she still a bit of a baddy?’
“In the books, Asriel and her are completely on the same page, but in this one, even Asriel is like the audience, going ‘I’m not sure.’ But the moment of complicity is really nice.”
Wilson said: “Both use their tools in the last moments to beat Metatron, and it’s like, okay the thing that Mrs. Coulter was always very good [at] was ‘will she won’t she? Is she a baddy? Is she bad, is she not?’ You don’t really know.
“And, so, she kind of employs those tools again for good this time, and the same with Asriel having to fight himself and his own ego, and having to battle against and then use his goodness—actually face his goodness and face what he really is.”
“I think that was quite clever, actually. Like I said, I hope it works,” Wilson added, before joking: “Imagine if we actually went somewhere else and she became f****** Metatron?”
His Dark Materials concludes on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, December 26.
