Netflix taps Coco writer Matthew Aldrich to run its shared Narnia universe
By Dan Selcke
When it comes to well-known fantasy stories, you have a few heavy hitters. There’s George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, the sexy violent one. Then there’s J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the classically epic one. Finally, there’s C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, the family-friendly one, about a group of children who discover a magical land in their wardrobe and meet a talking lion who is also Jesus.
HBO has the rights to Martin’s work and Amazon is adapting Tolkien’s. As for Lewis, his work will find a new home at Netflix, where the streaming service intends to turn his books into a shared universe of movies and at least one TV series.
Welcome to Narnia. You’re here forever.
HBO and Amazon are already pretty far into their epic fantasy projects, but we haven’t heard much about Netflix’s. But now, The Hollywood Report has it that the company has tapped Matthew Aldrich as the “creative architect” behind all of these new projects. It’ll be his job to shepherd the movies and TV show(s) through development and make sure they’re consistent with each other, kind of like how Kevin Feige keeps the Marvel Cinematic Universe from falling out from under itself.
But does Aldrich have the required chops? Does he know how the White Witch came to Narnia in The Magicians Nephew? How many times has he read The Horse and His Boy? How much Turkish delight does he eat on a daily basis?
RELATED PRODUCT
Chicago Cubs Game Of Thrones White Walker Bobblehead
Buy Now!
Buy Now!
Well, he really doesn’t have much experience, with easily his biggest claim to fame being a co-writing credit on the excellent Pixar movie Coco. And considering how good Coco was, that’s probably enough to be entrusted with a massive children’s fantasy series. Let her rip, Aldrich.
Next. Quentin Tarantino going ahead with his R-rated Star Trek movie. dark
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
h/t The A.V. Club