Screenwriter Jack Thorne gave Greta Thunberg the best compliment by comparing her to the strong heroine of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, Lyra Balecqua.
The 40-year-old writer, best known for being in charge of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, spoke about both Lyra and Greta’s ‘intent on greatness’ during the His Dark Materials HBO/BBC premiere.
He said: ‘We live in scary times. And I think there’s so much in Philip’s books about now and where we’re at now, even more than when he first wrote it.
‘The thing that I most admire about his telling is that there’s an obvious story to be told, and that’s Asriel’s story, and he doesn’t tell it, he tells Lyra’s, and that choice between following the person intent on greatness, Asriel, and abandoning that in order to follow the person intent on goodness in Lyra is such a bold and brilliant choice.
‘And, you know, Greta Thunberg … Lyra … there are quite a lot of similarities there.’
Jack wrote the adaptation of the novel – which deeply critiqued religion – and compared the novels’ authority Magisterium to the current British government.
The government’s response to pro-environmental Extinction Rebellion protestors, who have recently been demonstrating across London and purposely causing disruption to get the governments attention on climate change, has angered many after they were banned from protesting in London.
‘We just saw today a protest being removed from the streets without due process of law, and it was done quite openly by a group of people that felt they were entitled to do it, and they denied another group of people the right to protest,’ Jack said.
Maybe now Jack can collaborate with Greta on a life-changing documentary about the environment?
The playwright was joined on stage by Dafne Keen, who plays the iconic Lyra, as well as Ruth Wilson (Mrs Coulter), Clarke Peters (The Master) and series producer Jane Tranter.
The first season of His Dark Materials launches on 3 November on BBC and 4 November on HBO.
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