Remember when Netflix acquired the elusive rights to adapt C. S. Lewis’ iconic fantasy work The Chronicles of Narnia back in October 2018? It seemed as if they were pretty set on creating the next big fantasy TV series, as they spent a pretty penny on the rights. In fact, it marked the first time that the rights to all seven books were bought by a single bidder.
At the time that announcement was made, Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos made it sound like the streaming service had big plans for Narnia. “C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” he said. “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.”
However, since 2018, there have been little to no further developments. What’s more, C.S. Lewis’ own stepson, Douglas Gresham, who is also a Narnia producer, revealed to William O’Flaherty during 90 Seconds to Knowing C.S. Lewis that even he hasn’t heard anything from Netflix yet.
“I have not heard a word from them,” Gresham said. “I’m kind of getting worried myself as to whether anything’s ever going to happen.” Uh oh.
On the bright side, Gresham thinks that a serialized drama is the best way to tell the Chronicles of Narnia story. “With a movie,” he explains, “you have an hour, maybe two-hour maximum if you really stretch it, to put an entire book – an adventure storybook – into the film. And you just can’t do it.”
Of course, TV shows have become the primary medium for on-screen fantasy storytelling these days. Take Game of Thrones and The Witcher, for example. And then you’ve got other upcoming projects like Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time series. Gresham definitely sees this as the perfect direction for Narnia, because a TV show would allow them to adapt “the entire book, every single nuance of it, on the screen.”
So we might not be getting Netflix’s Narnia for a while, if ever, but that won’t stop fans from sharing their excitement. For example, one fan showed off some cool sample designs for the show on Twitter:
In the meantime, you can still get a taste of Narnia onscreen through the movies from Disney and 20th Century Fox: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008), and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). Hopefully, Netflix can begin development on something more soon.
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h/t Screenrant