It's rare that a heroine's power isn't linked to her sexuality: Dafne Keen on 'His Dark Materials'

I'm in an exquisite city of cobbled stone streets, cafes and markets. Bread, the kind with crisp crusts that make you want to break off chunks and pop straight into your mouth - is stacked on tables. The sky is bright blue against red tiled roofs that remind me of the best of Italy. Where am I? I'm on the set of His Dark Materials and nothing I've just mentioned is real.

On a bitter Welsh day just weeks before lockdown I've taken a train from London to Cardiff to find myself in a black cavern of a sound stage that seems to extend endlessly before I reach the set of Cittagazze - a city created by Philip Pullman, who wrote the trilogy on which the HBO series His Dark Materials is based.

Dealing with other worlds, black matter and something magical called "Dust", the series hits its stride this second season, showcasing the talent of its two young leads, Dafne Keen as Lyra Belacqua, and Amir Wilson as Will Parry.

Weighty contributions come from Ruth Wilson and the "sexy priest" from Fleabag, Andrew Scott. An interesting addition is Phoebe Waller-Bridge (the star of Fleabag), who voices Scott's osprey daemon in His Dark Materials. Lin-Manuel Miranda is having the time of his life as an Indiana-Jones type aeronaut who finds himself pulled into the quest to endure that good triumphs over evil.

His Dark Materials is a show created for our times. We sense dark forces behind the scenes and the show plays to our desire to have the ability to do what we all wish we could - cut a slit in the current moment and transport ourselves to a better version of the present.

At the centre of the adventure are a young girl and a young boy.

Says Keen: "I was attracted to Lyra because she's an amazing, strong, powerful young girl. There aren't many characters like that in the film industry, sadly. It's also unusual for a hero to be so young. For centuries, most of the stories in plays and books have the saviour as a man, while the person in need of saving is a woman. Then Philip wrote these amazing books in which it's not only a girl, but a young girl in the lead. You hardly ever see that [in an adult series].

"What's even more interesting is that usually the heroine's power is sexual. But the fact that Lyra is a child makes it her inner strength that gives her power - it has nothing to do with her sexuality. Young people, young girls, especially, get to look at the show and say, 'Oh, I have power that's not just sexual. I can be someone without having to be a woman first'.

"Lyra is not a very 'girlie girl'. She's quite a fascist tomboy. What's interesting about the show is that you've got Lyra in opposition to Mrs Coulter (Wilson), a really powerful woman, but she's completely different to Lyra — her opposite. I like her character arc. In season one, Lyra's a bit egocentric, narcissistic and arrogant, but she ends up being an amazing person."

Like many child actors, the teenager exhibits an awareness that's lacking in many adults. She says her hero is her mother, but adds: "I'm inspired by anyone who stands up against a system that's wrong — people who strive for the greater good, beyond just themselves. People who are not struggling but still stand up for people who are: I find that selflessness amazing."

Given her confidence I wonder if she's ever dreamt of a different future. "I love the Attenborough documentaries and I wanted to do his job. I looked into it and discovered I had to study biology, science and math and I thought, 'I'm not doing math'," she laughs. "I thought, 'Acting's good, let's stick with that'."

She adds: "I want to have a long career. I don't want to be one of these kids who's a burning flame, who turns 20 and, poof, they disappear."

Keen credits her Spanish language prowess and her acting-coach mother for her success. Her British father is also an actor and the family live in Spain.

"My mother is the other half of the actress in me," says Keen of her talent.

"What you see on camera is only half of the work. We rehearse every day at home, she's always there giving me notes and she's really good because she keeps an eye on me. The director keeps an eye on everything; but my mom just keeps an eye on me. She's given me a lot of advice from amazing artists."

Her one beef? "I want to do more stunts. I've done aerial silks since I was very young. Some kids like playing with toys, but I created characters. I'd dress up in my mom's clothes and I'd be a psychologist - that was a frequent character of mine. I'd dress in my dad's clothes and pretend I was a rapper from the Bronx. I was always doing that kind of stuff. There is a stunt girl but we don't really use her because I love doing the physical scenes."

There's a device called an alethiometer in the story - it's used to communicate with Dust and find truthful answers to questions. I ask what truth she'd like to be able to foretell and her response is telling. "Will humankind be okay?"

Stay tuned. You get the feeling that if the next generation is anything like Dafne Keen, we'll be okay.

• Season 2 of 'His Dark Materials' is streaming on Showmax.

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