Latest teaser for HBO's His Dark Materials brings in the bears, uncovers dark plot

It's time to give your daemon a well-deserved tummy rub, because HBO just unveiled a brand-spankin'-new teaser for its adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of novels.

Packed with even more footage than the trailer we got in late February, this one really gets going on the plot (which revolves around the kidnapping of children) as well as the introduction of Iorek Byrnison, a talking polar bear who befriends our main character/hero, Lyra Belacqua (Logan's Dafne Keen).

Set in an alternate world where humans are tied to animal-like reflections of themselves (known as "daemons"), a young girl will help her uncle, Lord Asriel (Dark Phoenix's James McAvoy), to uncover the aforementioned kidnapping plan that also happens to involve traversing parallel dimensions. It's heavy stuff, Doc.

Watch the new teaser below:

Adapted for television by writer Jack Thorne (scribe of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage production), His Dark Materials co-stars Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (Marry Poppins Returns). Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), Otto Bathurst (Robin Hood), and Jamie Childs (Doctor Who) are just a few of the directors helping bring the show to life.

An attempt to adapt Pullman's fantasy/sci-fi novels was made in 2007 with The Golden Compass. Directed by Rogue One co-writer Chris Weitz, that film boasted an A-list cast (Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, and Ian McKellen, to name a few), but could not land itself a sequel after disappointing reviews and box office returns.

There's still no premiere date for Season 1 of His Dark Materials just yet, but based on how good and polished the footage looks in the trailer, it could arrive sometime later this year.

HBO is co-producing the series with the BBC.