20 new shows that could become the next Game of Thrones

The Chronicles of Narnia (Netflix)

Netflix is taking on author C.S. Lewis’ beloved and already much-adapted Chronicles of Narnia series. There are seven novels in this cycle, although the first — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) — is easily the best known. Netflix announced last year that it had a big deal with the C.S. Lewis company to turn the series into “multiple” TV and film projects.

Producer Mark Gordon has said that Netflix has “the capacity to translate the Narnia universe into both stellar feature-length and episodic programming.” That sounds super ambitious, doesn’t it? I suppose when you’re up against sci/fi fantasy behemoths like The Lord of the Rings and The Mandalorian, you’d better dream big. Netflix keeps referring to developing elements of the classic Narnia “universe,” so we’re not sure if we’re going to see anything from the original books or not.

The Narnia novel series focuses largely on human children being pulled out of the known world and into the fantastic realm of Narnia, where the young protagonists often have vital roles to play in the unfolding history of the magical realm. There is no set release date for the Narnia project, so lets ballpark and predict late 2020.

Potential: The Chronicles of Narnia is something of a tried and true workhorse with dozens of TV, radio, film and stage adaptations being produced over the years. That means it’s one of the safer show start-ups on paper, but we could also worry that a limited audience with so many options may not flock to a world they’ve already visited so many times before.