🍿FindToWatch
Series · Fantasy, Drama, Action · 2019 · TV-14

His Dark Materials: parents' guide

13+our pick

Best for ages 13 and up. Rated TV-14.

A rich, serious fantasy for young teens who can handle sad and frightening material, adapted from Philip Pullman's novels. There is almost no sex or swearing, but children are kidnapped and cut away from their animal soul companions in cruel experiments, and more than one child dies. Parents and parent figures die too, a man poisons himself so soul-eating specters can't take him, and battles include a brutal fight between armored bears. Its sharp criticism of an all-powerful church may prompt questions in religious homes. Age 13 because the danger to children and the deaths hit hard, in line with the TV-14.

What's in it

Violence

Moderate

Gunfights, stabbings, a witch tortured by having strands pulled from her body, and a brutal duel between armored bears. Children are snatched and harmed in experiments, and several major characters are shot or killed, though blood and gore are limited.

Language

Mild

Very little: an occasional hell, bloody or damn, and a misuse of God's name. Most episodes are clean.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Two teens fall in love and kiss in the final season, two male angels are a couple who kiss, and tapestries show an indistinct nude Adam and Eve. No sex scenes or real nudity.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Mild

Twelve-year-old Lyra swigs wine from a bottle and spits it out, adults drink at parties and dinners, someone tries to poison a glass of wine, and Lyra is kept drugged asleep in season 3.

Scary or intense scenes

Strong

Sustained dread: children severed from their daemons, wraithlike specters that drain adults' souls, a frozen severed head, skeletons and a land of the dead. A boy dies after being cut from his daemon, another child is killed, and parents and mentors die.

Sensitive topics

  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent
  • Child abuse
  • Suicide

Worth talking about

Lyra is lied to by nearly every adult, including her own parents. How do you decide who to trust when people in authority aren't telling the truth?

Where to stream →

On our lists

Similar picks around 13+

13+ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of MadnessMovie · Superhero, fantasy · 2022 · PG-13 Violence: moderate, Language: moderate, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: mild, Scary or intense scenes: strong 14+ Death NoteSeries · Animated, thriller · 2006 · TV-14 Violence: strong, Language: moderate, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: moderate 13+ Avengers: EndgameMovie · Superhero, action · 2019 · PG-13 Violence: moderate, Language: moderate, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: moderate 14+ Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no YaibaSeries · Animated, action · 2019 · TV-MA Violence: strong, Language: moderate, Sex and nudity: moderate, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: strong 13+ The Vast of NightMovie · Sci-fi, thriller · 2019 · PG-13 Violence: none, Language: moderate, Sex and nudity: mild, Drinking, drugs and smoking: moderate, Scary or intense scenes: mild 13+ A Quiet Place Part IIMovie · Horror, sci-fi · 2020 · PG-13 Violence: moderate, Language: mild, Sex and nudity: none, Drinking, drugs and smoking: none, Scary or intense scenes: strong

Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, hbomax.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.