Movies

Andrew Scott Trades Hot Priest For Hot Mystery Explorer Role In 'His Dark Materials'

his dark materials cast
By Hoai-Tran Bui

You've met Hot Priest, now meet...Hot Mystery Character That We Can't Reveal Too Much About Yet. But either way, Andrew Scott will be making much use of his brand of hot dishevelment as the newest addition to the His Dark Materials cast for the second season of the HBO/BBC fantasy series.

The His Dark Materials Twitter account revealed Monday that Andrew Scott has been cast as Jopari, a character set to appear in season 2 of the fantasy-action series based on Philip Pullman's acclaimed novels. Scott celebrated his joining the His Dark Materials cast in what seems to be a behind-the-scenes picture with to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who stars in the series as the hot air balloon pilot Lee Scoresby.

"So I have summoned you here, and you are to fly me northwards," the caption reads, referring to a line that the mysterious Jopari tells Lee, who happens upon the grizzled explorer by more than mere coincidence.

Scott, hot off his role as Hot Priest (that's what he's called, I swear!) in the award-winning drama series Fleabag, is in high demand as of late, recently appearing in an episode of the newest season of Black Mirror and starring in Sam Mendes' upcoming war drama 1917. Though Scott has been stealing scenes for years (you may remember him as Moriarty in BBC's modern-day Sherlock series), Hot Priest in Fleabag was a breakout role of sorts that has turned the frequently disheveled, pale actor into a heartthrob that took the internet by storm.

But that brand of scruffy attractiveness is perfect for the role of Jopari, a fabled explorer who first appears in The Subtle Knife in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Also known as Doctor Stanislaus Grumman (and by another name that would be a spoiler to reveal here), Jopari is a renowned scholar and shaman who is rumored to travel across parallel worlds, in search of a mysterious substance called Dust. Grizzled, noble, and steadfast in his mission, he comes across Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keene) and Will Parry (the recently cast Amir Wilson) in their wanderings of a parallel world. Jopari will have spent years exploring the arctic wilderness so be prepared for Scott to show up as pallid and disheveled as possible. Just as we like him.

His Dark Materials premieres on HBO this fall.

His Dark Materials stars Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Adapting Philip Pullman's award-winning trilogy of the same name, which is considered a modern masterpiece of imaginative fiction, the first season follows Lyra, 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. As she journeys through the worlds, including our own, Lyra meets Will, a determined and courageous boy. Together, they encounter extraordinary beings and dangerous secrets, with the fate of both the living and the dead in their hands.
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