2022 will mark the fourth anniversary since Netflix announced that it had acquired the rights to adapt the new Chronicles of Narnia movies and series. Since then we’ve had one major announcement and a whole bunch of nothing. Here’s Everything We Know About Netflix the Chronicles of Narnia adaptations from April 2022
Before we dive into Netflix’s involvement going forward, let’s take a quick look at what the book series is and how it’s been adapted before.
Note: This is an ongoing article that will be updated over time as we learn more; last update: November 25, 2022.
What are they the Chronicles of Narnia?
Let’s start with the basics. the Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books by famed author CS Lewis that was published in the 1950s.
The book series is a fantasy series that takes us to the fictional kingdom of Narnia. In all, seven books were published under the chronicles of Narnia flag.
How the Chronicles of Narnia books have been developed before
The series has had multiple adaptations over the years, including a BBC series, a radio series, and of course, the Disney movies.
The biggest adaptation of the book series came in 2005, when Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media released the first film titled: “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
He later released another film that was distributed by Disney, and the third film was distributed by 20th Century Fox. A fourth film was planned, but never materialized.
How and when Netflix marked the Narnia franchise
The news of Netflix’s alliance with The CS Lewis Company receded in October 2018.
Netflix has a “multi-year deal” whereby it will have multiple movie and series projects on the go, all based solely on the Narnia books.
Along with the original announcement, Ted Sarandos, who is now co-CEO of Netflix, said: “CS Lewis’s darling chronicles of Narnia the stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” adding: “Families have fallen in love with the likes of Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we are delighted to be their home for years to come.”
It was also reiterated several times that Netflix would be adapting Narnia to a Universe, position the series to take on the likes of game of Thrones and Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit for a more familiar audience.
You can see more of the original press release on the official site Narnia Facebook Postbut here are the main lines:
“Netflix will develop new series and film projects based on CS Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia series. Under the terms of a multi-year agreement between Netflix and The CS Lewis Company, Netflix will develop classic stories from across the Narnia universe into series and movies for its members worldwide.
All series and movies produced through the deal will be Netflix productions, with Mark Gordon of Entertainment One (eOne) along with Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber serving as series executive producers and feature producers.
The biggest aspect of the Netflix deal, which makes it more unique than the above, is that you get access to all seven books. This means that some of the later books that have never seen adaptations before could make it to Netflix, which previous license holders have been unable to do.
We do know (courtesy of IMDbPro) that Mark Gordon, Douglas Gresham, and Vincent Sieber will be involved in most of the upcoming Netflix Narnia projects.
Matthew Aldrich becomes “architect” in Narnia Universe for Netflix in 2019
Months after waiting for more information about Narnia on Netflix, we finally got some news on June 12, 2019.
News has arrived that the co-writer of Disney Pixar’s Coco, a multi-award winning film, will be working on Narnia. In a tweet, Netflix’s See What’s Next account said the following:
“Coco’s co-writer, Matthew Aldrich, will serve as creative architect and oversee the development of all films and shows adapted from CS Lewis’ beloved Narnia universe for Netflix.”
“Coco” co-writer Matthew Aldrich will serve as creative architect and oversee development of all films and shows adapted from CS Lewis’ beloved Narnia universe for Netflix. pic.twitter.com/k77EG6f9N4
— Queue (@netflixqueue) June 12, 2019
In January 2020, narniaweb posted that Douglas Gresham (stepson of CS Lewis) has little knowledge of where Netflix stands with the production.
Jordan Raynor: What’s the latest on this partnership between Netflix and the CS Lewis Company?
Douglas Gresham: Yeah, to be honest, I can’t tell you much at all. We made the deal quite a few months ago and I haven’t heard a word since. I mean, I’m listed as the producer, but I haven’t heard anything about what they plan to do or how they plan to do it or when they plan to do it. Looking at things, I don’t know if Netflix is ready to rock and roll on this or not, but we’ll find out in due course.
In June 2020, NarniaWeb collected in a question and answer session with manager Matthew Aldrich who stated that Netflix projects will be made from the perspective of children saying:
“Characters come from understanding people. Sometimes it’s about having children…
Matt Aldrich can write kids right now because he has kids and he talks to them and he’s trying to understand them. He runs his scripts through them and throws stories at them. When they get bored he cuts it, when they get excited he adds it. The two sons of him are a test room ”.
Since the architect’s announcement, Netflix has been very quiet as a lot of planning goes into the various projects.
In January 2021, Scott Stuber, who heads Netflix’s movie division, told the New York Times that Narnia was among the projects that were predicted to release “beyond 2021,” which means that while we might hear about projects this year, we don’t expect any to release.
Netflix France is one of the few Netflix accounts that consistently acknowledges that the shows and movies still exist and the last interaction was on March 14, 2021.
The series and the films Narnia are in preparation!
— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) March 14, 2021
The only update we’ve had on Narnia since Netflix France acknowledged its existence was via a NarniaWeb source in August 2021, who told them the titles are still in development.
One additional thing to mention in 2022 is that Ted Biaselli, a Netflix network executive who is an “Original Series Director”, includes Narnia on his list. LinkedIn biosaying:
“He spearheaded the formation of the family programming list of 4 quadruples, including the development and production of the Netflix original series Fuller House, Haters Back Off, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lost in Space, The Umbrella Academy, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. , Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, Raising Dion and Green Eggs and Ham, Sweet Tooth and the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia.
Once again, in 2022, Netflix France acknowledged that development is still ongoing.
– Charlie and the Chocolate Shop by Taika Waititi
– A new adaptation of Matilda
– Mercredi Addams, Tim Burton’s first series
– The series and films Narnia
– Dance Perdue 2
– The Asterix animation series by Alain Chabat
– The Assassin’s Creed series in live action— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) April 13, 2022
Then we got the news in November 2022 that Netflix was planning two movies and in talks to have Greta Gerwig direct both movies.
Netflix has yet to officially respond to the news through exchanges or publicly elsewhere.
Where could it be the Chronicles of Narnia at the start of Netflix?
The lion, the witch and the wardrobe it is the natural starting point of Narnia. Still, the magician’s nephew The book serves as a prequel, fleshing out the realm of Narnia and may be a more logical start for Netflix to kick off the universe.
You can hear more of a discussion from the Narniaweb podcast below, where they speculate that it may make sense to start with magician’s nephew this time.
This would mean that Netflix would adapt the books in the so-called Order of “HarperCollins” which would be the following:
- The magician’s Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The horse and his child
- prince caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- the silver chair
- The last battle.
the boys of narniaweb It was also speculated that their adaptations may be a bit darker. They specifically compared them to Anne with an E series on Netflix, which was much darker than the source material on which it is based.
in a chat with georgie henley in April 2020, who played Lucy in the Disney franchise, said she’d be open to appearing in the Netflix reboot, but confessed that’s probably unlikely.
What Narnia projects are in development
IMDb Pro lists several projects in development.
We can see the first three Netflix projects involving Narnia through the profile of Matthew Alrich. Here are each of the projects and where they are reportedly in development:
- The untitled Netflix/Chronicles of Narnia series is reportedly the furthest along in development, reportedly entering pre-production in October 2018.
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (Treatment stage but expected to be an old project)
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (this is Disney’s last canceled movie and is therefore not expected to go ahead)
Finally, in early 2020, several fan-made posters. went viral on social media. For many, this was the first time they heard that Netflix was adapting the books.
That’s all we know so far. There’s a lot to announce, a lot to be excited about, and a lot to learn. We’ll be there every step of the way to see what’s in store for Narnia on Netflix.
For more on Netflix’s fantasy lineup, check out our dedicated preview.