Netflix’s Narnia to Start at the Beginning?
Door Jam: December 2, 2024
The Door Jam is a place to squeeze in relevant articles written about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, their work, adaptations of their fantasy worlds, news from other franchises, and interesting articles. Unless otherwise stated, I’m not necessarily endorsing (or criticizing) any of these but merely sharing them with you.
Our top story this week is more rumors about Greta Gerwig’s Narnia adaptation(s). Could she be tackling the creation of Narnia?
Top Story
Despite all the news and rumors we’ve gotten about Gerwig’s (at least) two Narnia projects for Netflix, we still don’t know the most important piece of information—which book or books she’ll be drawing from.
With seven books, there are obviously seven possible options, but most assume there are only three major possibilities—The Silver Chair, the next book in the series without a major movie adaptation, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book written and the best introduction to Narnia and Aslan, and The Magician’s Nephew, the prequel that reveals the creation of Narnia.
The Silver Chair seems to be the least likely. While many, including me, argue that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe should be the first book read, that does not mean it has to be the first movie seen. Lewis wrote that story first and treated it as the reader’s introduction to the world. But Gerwig could frame The Magician’s Nephew in that way to foreshadow the later events in Narnia. And, according to actor Jason Isaacs, Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter film franchise, that’s the direction she’s going.
In an article for The Week, Isaacs names several of his favorite books, including The Magician’s Nephew. Here’s what he said:
I loved all the Narnia books as a kid. When Peter was told he wouldn't be coming back, I understood something devastating about mortality. I picked this one because Greta Gerwig is about to make a film of it, which I can't wait to see.
It could be that Isaacs has heard some of the same or even more rumors from his Hollywood connections, especially to the adapted fantasy franchise world. But it certainly could be the case that he has inside information, either from his own knowledge or others closely connected to Netflix, Gerwig or others on the project.
Of course, actress Saoirse Ronan, a frequent Gerwig collaborator, recently told the Los Angeles Times that she was willing to do anything to be in Narnia, including being cast as Mr. Tumnus, the snow, or the wardrobe. Those all obviously feature prominently in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
With Narnia being a franchise associated with Christmas and the previous rumors suggesting the film would release around Thanksgiving in 2026, now would be a great time for Gerwig and Netflix to let us know which book will be adapted.
Sources: The Week, Narnia Web
Not Safe But Good
C.S. Lewis quote of the week
The value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by ‘the veil of familiarity’. The child enjoys his cold meat (otherwise dull to him) by pretending it is buffalo, just killed with his own bow and arrow. And the child is wise. The real meat comes back to him more savoury for having been dipped in a story; you might say that only then is it the real meat. If you are tired of the real landscape, look at it in a mirror. By putting bread, gold, horse, apple, or the very roads into a myth, we do not retreat from reality: we rediscover it. As long as the story lingers in our mind, the real things are more themselves. This book applies the treatment not only to bread or apple but to good and evil, to our endless perils, our anguish, and our joys. By dipping them in myth we see them more clearly.
“Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” On Stories And Other Essays on Literature
Tumnus’ bookshelf
A book by or about C.S. Lewis
So much of Lewis’ thought flows from a better understanding and appreciation of history and historical thought. In The Discarded Image, he explores his area of scholarly expertise, the literature of the Middle Ages, to help us examine what we may be missing.
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This week, paid subscribers will receive two entries into our read-along for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. A sick child during the Thanksgiving break delayed last week’s entry, but I want us to finish the book before Christmas.
Below for paid subscribers will be other news and articles related to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, including a possible connection between Narnia and Hogwarts, a reflection on America through the pens of Lewis and Langston Hughes, how Tolkien made Lewis cry, a pub that inspired Tolkien, some news on a 1978 Tolkien adaptation and the latest on a 2024 adaptation, and more.
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