Netflix Narnia Announcement

[Swanwhite]

Having received this news, what are your thoughts?

NETFLIX TO DEVELOP SERIES AND FILMS BASED ON
C.S. LEWIS’ BELOVED THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

Hollywood, Calif. - October 3, 2018 -- Netflix will develop new series and film projects based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of Narnia series. Under the terms of a multi-year deal between Netflix and The C.S. Lewis Company, Netflix will develop classic stories from across the Narnia universe into series and films for its members worldwide. All series and films produced through the deal will be Netflix productions, with Mark Gordon of Entertainment One (eOne) alongside Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber serving as executive producers for series and as producers for features. In total the Narnia books have sold more than 100 million copies and been translated in more than 47 languages worldwide. The deal marks the first time that rights to the entire seven books of the Narnia universe have been held by the same company.

“C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix. “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 is wonderful to know that folks from all over are looking forward to seeing more of Narnia, and that the advances in production and distribution technology have made it possible for us to make Narnian adventures come to life all over the world,” said Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis. “Netflix seems to be the very best medium with which to achieve this aim, and I am looking forward to working with them towards this goal.”

“Narnia is one of those rare properties that spans multiple generations and geographies,” said Mark Gordon, eOne’s President and Chief Content Officer, Film & Television. “eOne and I are excited to be collaborating with The C.S. Lewis Company and Netflix who have the capacity to translate the Narnia universe into both stellar feature-length and episodic programming. We cannot wait to get started on the multiple productions we hope to undertake.”

[Swanwhite]

My take on it is that the Silver Chair is probably still going forward. Since it includes films and series, it makes sense to begin with the film that is already in production and then jump off from there. Maybe a series would then play off of what is successful from SC and include Puddleglum and the reign of Rillian... or they could go back to the golden age and set up a Horse and His Boy film. So much is possible.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

I’m still apprehensive, though I read somewhere (maybe NarniaWeb?) that it could be that Netflix will have a hand in funding and producing, which could mean that, so far as budget goes, could mean good things. We shall see....

[Swanwhite]

Just as a point of discussion, if you were to pitch a Narnia project to Netflix other than a specific book, what would that look like?

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

The Dark Age.
There so much time to play with and I’ve always wanted to know what happened between the end of LWW and the beginning of PC anyway. We don’t really know much of what happened, apart from the Telmarine Invasion and the rules of Ram in Archenland and Rabadash in Calormen, so tons of exploring room. What were international relations like? How did Narnia deal with the disappearance of the Four? Who took over and in what capacity? What about this time made it “the Dark Age”? How quickly (or not) did Cor and Aravis adjust to Archenland? What challenges did they face? How did the proposal go down? What kind of policies did Rabadash have? How did his court respond to them?
This would give producers all sorts of space to work with the world of Narnia while risking less potential damage to canon characters as the number of available canon characters for this period are few. (The only drawback is that it’s be harder to gain audience interest without canon characters and they’d also run the chance of making something that ends up being criticized for not being Narnian enough.)

[Swanwhite]

Intriguing! I could see this following a HHB movie or mini series so that you are already familiar with the Archenland characters and the layout of the world in general. There could be some threat still from Rabadash even though he's stuck in Tashbaan.

Most of what happens in Narnia then would be complete invention which would certainly be risky! But sometimes risks pay off

[HermitoftheNorthernMarch]

Ariel, you're right, the Dark Age would be very interesting politically.

I would pitch an episode about the downfall of Charn, a prequel to LWW which tells of Narnians who fought Jadis when she took over Narnia, an episode about the kidnapping of Shasta and why the Calormene rescues him, Peter fighting the giants in HHB, a story about the women of Bism who don't know where all the male earthmen have been taken to, and maybe a story about some of the champions who went to look for Rilian and the hard choice Caspian made to outlaw searching for Rilian.

These would ideally build up the excitement for the actual book adaptions.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Of those, the ones about Cor’s kidnapping and the search for Rilian are what spark my interest most!

[knightofnarnia]

My opinion the Narnia made Netflix series will never happen They just bought it to prevent anyone else getting it. The movies are still on Disney plus what is more. They have shown zero interest in Narnia since they named someone to oversee the general making of all things Narnia. They probably will re buy the contract for the same reason and we will never see all books adapted to movies. Some might be glad about that but I am not

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

The Walden films are rightfully on Disney+ because Disney owns the rights to its own work. The Netflix contract affects that not at all one way or another.
Supposedly they’re still quietly working on Narnia. So they say. But I’m of the mind of “until they make some real announcements, I’m not holding my breath”.
As for never seeing Netflix Narnia happen ever… I’ve been skeptical from the start, and after hearing of what both Amazon and Netflix have been producing, I’m all the more worried about Narnia. So I’m not holding my breath on that count either.