'His Dark Materials' Season 2, Episode 6 Recap: "Malice"

His Dark Materials Season 2 was initially ordered at eight episodes, the same as Season 1. The BBC put in this order in early fall of 2019, sending the cast and crew back to work early. Of those eight episodes, seven were completed before the end of the year. The eighth was supposed to be a standalone hour in which the show goes off-book completely. It imagines the adventures of Lord Asriel during the events of The Subtle Knife (because you can't have a full season without your A-list star).

But the production didn't begin work on it until March of 2020. Everyone knows what happened then, as the coronavirus pandemic ensured His Dark Materials Season 2 would be without James McAvoy after all.

Mrs. Coulter: They consume what makes us human. I just hid that from them; I suppressed myself.