2022 will mark the fourth anniversary of when Netflix introduced it had acquired the rights to adapt new Chronicles of Narnia motion pictures and collection. Since then we’ve had one main announcement and quite a lot of nothing. Here’s every part we find out about Netflix’s The Chronicles of Narnia variations as of April 2022
Before we dive into Netflix’s involvement sooner or later, let’s rapidly have a look again at what the e book collection is and the way it’s been tailored beforehand.
Note: This is an ongoing article that’ll be up to date over time as we be taught extra – final up to date: November twenty fifth, 2022.
What are The Chronicles of Narnia?
Let’s begin with the fundamentals. The Chronicles of Narnia is a e book collection by the famed writer C.S. Lewis that was printed within the Fifties.
The e book collection is a fantasy collection that transports us to the fictional realm of Narnia. In whole, seven books have been printed below the Chronicles of Narnia banner.
How The Chronicles of Narnia books have been developed earlier than
The collection has seen a number of variations over time, together with a BBC collection, a radio collection, and naturally, the Disney motion pictures.
The e book collection’ largest adaptation got here in 2005 when Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media launched the primary film entitled: “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
It later launched one other movie that was distributed below Disney, with the third film being distributed by twentieth Century Fox. A fourth film was deliberate however by no means materialized.
How and when Netflix scored the Narnia franchise
The information of Netflix teaming up with The C.S. Lewis Company dropped again in October 2018.
Netflix has a “multi-year deal” whereby it would have a number of movie and collection tasks on the go, all based mostly on the books of Narnia solely.
Alongside the unique announcement, Ted Sarandos, who’s now the co-CEO of Netflix, mentioned: “C.S. Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” including, “Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come.”
It was additionally reiterated a number of occasions that Netflix could be adapting Narnia right into a Universe, positioning the collection to go up in opposition to the likes of Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit for a extra family-orientated viewers.
You can see extra from the unique press launch over on the official Narnia Facebook put up, however listed below are the primary traces:
“Netflix will develop new collection and movie tasks based mostly on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of Narnia collection. Under the phrases of a multi-year deal between Netflix and The C.S. Lewis Company, Netflix will develop traditional tales from throughout the Narnia universe into collection and movies for its members worldwide.
All collection and movies produced via the deal might be Netflix productions, with Mark Gordon of Entertainment One (eOne) alongside Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber serving as govt producers for collection and as producers for options.
The most necessary facet of the Netflix deal, which makes it extra distinctive than what has come earlier than, is that it has entry to all seven books. This means a number of the later books which have by no means seen variations earlier than may very well be coming to Netflix, which earlier license house owners haven’t been capable of do.
We know (courtesy of IMDbPro) that Mark Gordon, Douglas Gresham, and Vincent Sieber might be concerned with a lot of the upcoming Netflix Narnia tasks.
Matthew Aldrich turns into “architect” on Narnia Universe for Netflix in 2019
Months after ready for extra info on Narnia on Netflix, lastly, we bought some information on June twelfth, 2019.
The information got here that the co-writer for Disney Pixar’s Coco, a multi-award-winning film, might be engaged on Narnia. In a tweet, Netflix’s See What’s Next account mentioned the next:
“Coco co-writer Matthew Aldrich will serve as the creative architect and oversee the development of all films and shows adapted from C.S. Lewis’s beloved Narnia universe for Netflix.”
“Coco” co-writer Matthew Aldrich will function the artistic architect and oversee the event of all movies and exhibits tailored from C.S. 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 C. S. Lewis) has little information of the place Netflix is at with manufacturing.
Jordan Raynor: What is the most recent on this partnership between Netflix and the C. S. Lewis Company?
Douglas Gresham: Yeah, to be trustworthy, I can’t let you know very a lot in any respect. We did the deal fairly some months in the past and I haven’t heard a phrase since. I imply, I’m listed because the producer, however I’ve heard no phrase on what they plan to do or how they plan to do it or once they plan to do it for that matter. Looking at issues, I don’t know whether or not Netflix is able to rock ‘n roll on this or not, however we’ll discover out in the end.
In June 2020, NarniaWeb picked up on a Q&A with the supervisor of Matthew Aldrich who said that the Netflix tasks might be completed from the angle of children saying:
“Characters come from understanding individuals. Sometimes it’s about having kids…
Matt Aldrich can write children proper now as a result of he has children and he talks to them and he’s making an attempt to determine them out. He runs his scripts by them and he pitches them tales. When they get bored he cuts it, once they get excited he provides it. His two children are a testing room.”
Since the architect announcement, it’s been very quiet from Netflix as a number of planning goes into the varied tasks.
In January 2021, Scott Stuber who heads Netflix’s movie division advised the New York Times that Narnia was among the many tasks predicted to launch “beyond 2021” which means that though we would hear of tasks this 12 months, we’re not anticipating the discharge of any.
Netflix France is without doubt one of the few Netflix accounts to persistently acknowledge the exhibits and films are even nonetheless in existence with the final interplay being on March 14th, 2021.
Des séries et des movies Narnia sont en préparation !
— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) March 14, 2021
The solely replace we’ve had relating to Narnia since Netflix France acknowledged its existence was by way of a supply for NarniaWeb in August 2021, who advised them that the titles are nonetheless in growth.
One further factor we should always point out in 2022 is that Ted Biaselli, a community govt at Netflix who’s a “Director of Original Series,” lists Narnia in his LinkedIn bio, saying:
“Spearheaded the formation of the 4-quad Family Programming slate including development and production of 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 once more, in 2022, Netflix France acknowledged growth remains to be ongoing.
– Charlie et la Chocolaterie par Taika Waititi
– Une nouvelle adaptation de Matilda
– Mercredi Addams, la première série de Tim Burton
– Les séries et movies Narnia
– Balle Perdue 2
– La série d’animation Astérix par Alain Chabat
– La série Assassin’s Creed en live-action— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) April 13, 2022
Then we bought the information in November 2022 that Netflix was planning two motion pictures and in talks for Greta Gerwig to direct each motion pictures.
Netflix has but to formally reply to the information by way of the trades or publicly elsewhere.
Where will The Chronicles of Narnia on Netflix begin?
The Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe is the pure place to begin for Narnia. Still, The Magician’s Nephew e book serves because the prequel, which fleshes out the realm of Narnia and should make a extra logical begin for Netflix to kickstart the universe.
You can hear extra on a dialogue from the Narniaweb podcast beneath the place they speculate it could make sense to start out with Magician’s Nephew this time.
This would imply Netflix would adapt the books within the so-called “Harper Collins” order which might be the next:
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and His Boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle.
The guys at Narniaweb additionally speculated that their variations could also be barely darker. They particularly in contrast them to the Anne with an E collection on Netflix, which was a lot darker than the supply materials it’s based mostly on.
In a chat with Georgie Henley in April 2020, who performed Lucy within the Disney franchise, mentioned she’d be receptive to that includes within the Netflix reboot however confessed it’s in all probability unlikely.
What Narnia tasks are in growth
IMDb Pro lists a number of tasks in growth.
We can see the primary three Netflix tasks involving Narnia by way of Matthew Alrich’s profile. Here are every of the tasks and the place they’re reportedly in growth:
- Untitled Netflix/Chronicles of Narnia Series is reportedly the furthest in growth with it coming into pre-production reportedly again in October 2018.
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (Treatment stage however anticipated to be an outdated undertaking)
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (that is the canceled closing Disney film and subsequently isn’t anticipated to go forward)
Finally, in early 2020, a number of fan-made posters went viral on social media. For many, this was the primary time many had heard Netflix is adapting the books.
That’s all we all know to this point. There’s so much to be introduced, so much to be enthusiastic about, and so much to be discovered. We’ll be there each step of the way in which to see what’s in retailer for Narnia on Netflix.
For extra on Netflix’s fantasy lineup, take a look at our devoted preview.