Netflix’s reboots of The Chronicles of Narnia is looking to bring in Barbie director Greta Gerwig to direct the first two movies in the franchise. Reports have suggested the highly acclaimed director is top of Netflix’s list to take the helm of their Narnia movies, although it has yet to be revealed in what order the streamer will be approaching the novels of C.S. Lewis in a project that was originally set into development back in 2018.
Like many projects of the last few years, the Narnia reboot has been stalled for a while during the Covid pandemic, and other than Coco co-writer Matthew Aldrich being originally appointed to adapt the scripts there have been very few updates on the project. According to What’s on Netflix, Gerwig is now expected to become part of that team although there are still no further details on when exactly we can expect the new adaptations of the films to arrive.
Gerwig is currently gaining a lot of attention as the director of Margot Robbie’s Barbie movie, but undertaking a double feature in such an iconic franchise will be another massive challenge for the award winner. Although any movie adaptation of a well-known and much-loved novel series comes with a certain amount of pressure, certain books of the Narnia series have already been adapted multiple times, which will no doubt lead to the usual round of comparisons among fans of those other versions.
Which Of The Narnia Books Have Never Been Made Before?
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Everyone knows The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, both for being the most famous of the seven Narnia books and for being the most adapted. Having been produced for television in 1967, as an animated TV movie in 1979, as part of a live-action TV series in the late 1980s that adapted the first four novels and a live-action movie in 2005, the question is whether Netflix would want to be as obvious as to once again begin a series of adaptations with the most iconic story of the set.
While movie versions of Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were already released, further films in the franchise based on The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy were planned but never made it to production. Similarly, The Magician’s Nephew has never been adapted, and could well be a popular choice for those looking for something outside the norm when it comes to Narnia adaptations.
Of course there is still a long way to go before any of the movies actually make it to Netflix, and Gerwig has her work on Barbie to complete, and then it will all depend on whether the deal is right for her as to whether she takes on the project. Based on the fantasy elements of the story and the amount of post-production that brings with it, it will likely be two years at least before The Chronicles of Narnia return once more. Who knows, this time Netflix may actually be the first to adapt all of the novels rather than being forced to bail out part way through.