The fourth anniversary of Netflix acquiring the rights to adapt new Chronicles of Narnia movies and series will be in 2022. We’ve had one major announcement and a lot of nothing since then. As of April 2022, here’s everything we know about Netflix’s The Chronicles of Narnia adaptations.
Before we get into Netflix’s involvement in the future, let’s go over the book series and how it’s been adapted in the past.
What exactly are the Narnia Chronicles?
C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia books are being adapted into TV shows and movies by Netflix. Yes, you read that correctly. The beloved childhood fantasy books are returning to the big screen (again) after the streaming giant picked them up for a multi-year adaptation project.
The series has already been adapted numerous times, including a BBC series, a radio series, and, of course, the Disney movies.
After the release of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” in 2005, Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media produced the most significant adaptation of the book series.
Two more films were later released, one by Disney and the other by Fox Century. A fourth film was planned, but it never materialized.
Now that Netflix has acquired the fantasy titles, let’s delve into the streaming behemoth’s massive plans for Narnia.
The History Of Magic On Netflix And The Narnia Franchise
Netflix has signed a’multi-year’ deal that gives them the exclusive rights to produce films and series projects based on the Narnia books.
The agreement marks the first time that a single company has held all of the rights to the entire Narnia series, giving us hope that the other books that were never adapted by previous owners will finally appear on Netflix.
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s content head, said in a statement accompanying the announcement, “C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” adding, “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.”
The most important aspect of the Netflix agreement, and what distinguishes it from previous deals, is that Netflix has access to all seven of the books. This means that some of the later books, which have never been adapted before, may be coming to Netflix where previous owners of the license were unable to.
We do know that Mark Gordon, Douglas Gresham, and Vincent Sieber will be involved in the majority of the upcoming Netflix Narnia projects (thanks to IMDbPro).
What Narnia projects are in the works?
We can see the first three Netflix projects involving Narnia thanks to Matthew Alrich’s profile on IMDBpro. Here are the projects and where they are rumored to be in development:
Untitled Netflix/Chronicles of Narnia Series is reportedly the most advanced in development, having begun pre-production in October 2018.
As of October 2018, an untitled Netflix/Chronicles of Narnia TV Movie was in pre-production.
The Magician’s Nephew from The Chronicles of Narnia (Treatment stage but expected to be an old project)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (this is the cancelled final Disney film, so it is not expected to be released)
The Seven Narnia Books And Where Will Netflix’s Adaptation Start?
The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe is the obvious starting point for Narnia, but The Magician’s Nephew serves as a prequel that fleshes out the realm of Narnia and may be a more logical start for Netflix to kickstart the universe with.
More on a discussion from the Narniaweb podcast below, where they speculate that starting with Magician’s Nephew this time around may make sense.
The first book in the Narnia series is ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.’ ‘The Magician’s Nephew,’ on the other hand, is a prequel, so Netflix is likely to adapt the entire book series in the following order:
The Magician’s Nephew
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
There are also rumors that Netflix’s Narnia Universe will be darker, similar to what happened with Anne in an E series. We’ll have to wait for the official trailer to confirm this, which will most likely take some time.