Magisterial agent. Jack Shepherd as master of Jordan College. Magda Szubanski as Mrs. Lonsdale. Voice cast Ian McKellen as Iorek Byrnison, an armoured bear (panserbjørn) who becomes Lyra's friend and comrade. Nonso Anozie and Chris Hemsworth had recorded lines for the part of Iorek Byrnison, but was replaced by McKellen at a late stage as New Line wanted a bigger name in the role. New Line president of production Toby Emmerich claimed that he "never thought Anozie sounded like Iorek" and while he initially trusted director Weitz's casting decision, he "never stopped thinking that this guy didn't sound right." The recasting was against Weitz's wishes, though he later said "if you're going to have anyone recast in your movie, you're happy it's Ian McKellen." Freddie Highmore as Pantalaimon, Lyra's dæmon. Pan was originally to be voiced by an older actor, but they called in Highmore instead, as it would be more of an intimate relationship if Pan and Lyra were the same age, and also would underscore the contrast between Lyra's relationship with him versus her relationships with older male characters such as Lord Asriel, Lee Scoresby and Iorek. Ian McShane as Ragnar Sturlusson, king of the panserbjørne. Ragnar's name in the book was Iofur Raknison, but the name was changed to prevent confusion between him and Iorek. However, in the German-language version of the film, the dialogue retains the name "Iofur Raknison", whilst the subtitles reflect the change. Kathy Bates as Hester, Lee Scoresby's hare (jackrabbit) dæmon. Kristin Scott Thomas as Stelmaria, Lord Asriel's dæmon. Production Development On February 11, 2002, following the success of New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the studio bought the rights to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. In July 2003, Tom Stoppard was commissioned to write the screenplay. Directors Brett Ratner and Sam Mendes expressed interest in the film, but a year later, Chris Weitz was hired to direct after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment. The studio rejected the script, asking Weitz to start from scratch. Since Weitz was an admirer of Stoppard's work, he decided not to read the adaptation in case he "subconsciously poached things from him." After delivering his script, Weitz cited Barry Lyndon and Star Wars as stylistic influences on the film. In 2004, Weitz was invited by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson onto the set of