The series premiere of “His Dark Materials” drew 700,000 viewers across all of HBO’s platforms on Monday, a day after the drama made debuted on BBC One in the U.K.
The TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novel trilogy is HBO’s most-watched Monday series premiere since the Jared Harris-led limited series “Chernobyl” launched to 1.2 million multiplatform viewers in May, according to the pay TV channel.
“His Dark Materials” received 424,000 viewers for its initial 9 p.m. airing on HBO. The overall-eyeball tally reached that previously mentioned 700,000 mark thanks to a replay and streams on HBO Go and HBO Now.
Speaking of streaming, the digital viewership for the drama’s first episode was six times greater than the start of “Gentleman Jack,” which premiered on HBO back in April, also on a Monday.
“His Dark Materials” follows Lyra (Dafne Keen), a seemingly ordinary but brave young woman from another world. Her search for a kidnapped friend uncovers a sinister plot involving stolen children and becomes a quest to understand a mysterious phenomenon called Dust.
Along with Keen, the series stars Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby, James McAvoy as Lord Asriel, Clarke Peters as The Master of Jordan College, James Cosmo as Farder Coram and Anne-Marie Duff as Ma Costa, with Will Keen as Father MacPhail and Ariyon Bakare as Lord Boreal.
“His Dark Materials” was adapted for television by Jack Thorne who executive produces along with Pullman, Tom Hooper and Otto Bathurst, as well as Dan McCulloch, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner for Bad Wolf, Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood for New Line Cinema, and Ben Irving and Piers Wenger for BBC One.
The drama, which received an initial two-season order from BBC One and HBO, is produced by Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema.