The Golden Compass 2

New Line Cinema commissioned Hossein Amini to write a screenplay based on the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, potentially for release in late 2009, with the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, to follow. However, New Line president Toby Emmerich stressed that production of the second and third films was dependent on the financial success of The Golden Compass. When The Golden Compass failed to meet expectations at the United States box office, the likelihood of a sequel was downplayed by New Line. According to studio co-head Michael Lynne, "The jury is still very much out on the movie, and while it's performed very strongly overseas we'll look at it early [2008] and see where we're going with a [sequel]."

If sequels are produced, Weitz has said that he intends to "protect [their] integrity" by being "much less compromising" in the book-to-film adaptation process. On February 29, 2008, Weitz told The Daily Yomiuri that he still hopes for sequels, saying "at first it looked like we were down for the count because in the U.S. [the film] underperformed. But then internationally it performed [better] than expectations. So, a lot depends on Japan, frankly.... I think if it does well enough here we'll be in good shape for that."

On March 13, 2008, The Golden Compass Producer Deborah Forte expressed optimism that sequels could be made, and said that she intends to see them realized. In July 2008, Phillip Pullman said it was still possible that a sequel would happen, revealing that plans were still being made and a script prepared.