Philip Pullman's gripping His Dark Materials starring Dafne Keen is back on BBC1

This time the series will focus on the Oxford author’s book The Subtle Knife, the sequel to Northern Lights.

Season one was praised by the critics and Dafne Keen continues in her role as Lyra Belacqua, with Amir Wilson playing Will Parry.

Amir Wilson with Dafne Keen

Once again Cardiff-based production company Bad Wolf has been in charge of filming.

Some scenes at the fictional Jordan College in series one were filmed at New College in Oxford.

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Executive producer Jane Tranter told the Radio Times: “In season one, we had a witch. In season two, we had witches, and we have angels.

She added: “Everything is just kind of building and expanding - there are many new characters and excitements.”

In series two, which runs for seven episodes, in an abandoned city called Cittàgazze, Lyra meets Will Parry and the youngsters work together to investigate the mysterious Dust phenomenon.

It’s not long before Lyra and Will discover their destinies are intertwined in the mission to reunite Will with his father, a quest which is further complicated when a war breaks out around them.

The cast has featured Ruth Wilson as Mrs Coulter, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby, Anne-Marie Duff and Clarke Peters, and the TV adaptation follows the movie starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in 2007.

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The impressive ensemble cast will also see the reappearance of Ruta Gedmintas as witch queen Serafina Pekkala.

New cast members include Andrew Scott, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Terence Stamp.

Philip Pullman himself has confirmed that there won’t be any major changes to the story, reassuring fans on Twitter that the basic plot will be staying the same.

“We are not trying to do something different to the books,” screenwriter Jack Thorne added.

“Sometimes we do step away and do different things, but always we’re going back to the text and saying, ‘How does this help us tell Philip’s story best?”

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A special standalone episode starring James McAvoy as Lord Asriel could not be filmed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Season Two of His Dark Materials coincides with the publication of a new Philip Pullman short story, Serpentine, which is set after the events of His Dark Materials.

In 2017 the first part of a new trilogy by Philip Pullman was published by Oxford-based David Fickling and Random House. La Belle Sauvage, the first instalment of The Book of Dust trilogy, came out in 2017 and was followed by The Secret Commonwealth.

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The author said: “When I wrote Serpentine, I had no idea that I was going on to write another trilogy, showing Lyra as an adult but she and her world wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Season Two of His Dark Materials starts on BBC1 on Sunday at 8pm.