Every role I’ve done seems to be something where my dad has to die,” says Amir Wilson, wincing a little. His characters have certainly been through a lot. As plucky would-be knight Tiuri, he didn’t have much to laugh about in Netflix’s fantasy series The Letter for the King, in which his adoptive father dies trying to protect him. Or when he played Simba, scion of a famously soon-to-be-trampled-upon Mufasa, in the West End production of The Lion King. And if his character’s father isn’t dying, he’s absent, as in Sky’s whimsical adaptation of The Secret Garden, in which he played Dickon opposite Colin Firth and Julie Walters.
Then there’s his breakthrough role as Will Parry in His Dark Materials, which we’re here to talk about today. That morbid theme continues in the BBC’s complex take on Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy: Will is a troubled teenage boy who joins forces with orphan Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen) to uncover the secrets of multiple worlds and help overthrow the all-powerful Magisterium. Not enough drama for you? In season two, Will comes face to face with his long-lost father, only to watch him be killed moments later.
