As Barbie writer/director Greta Gerwig gets ready for her movie to be celebrated among the 2024 Oscar nominees in less than two weeks, the filmmaker is already getting ready to adapt another beloved property: C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. As Gerwig preps her take on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Netflix’s CEO has shared thoughts on the vision that has me even more excited.
Much like Greta Gerwig, I devoured the Narnia books as a kid and always imagined the entire book series getting a complete adaptation. While Walt Disney Pictures made a strong start to the franchise with the 2005 movie, the property soon fell apart with its sequels. Here’s what Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos recently said about Greta Gerwig’s version:
It won’t be counter to how the audience may have imagined those worlds, but it will be bigger and bolder than they thought.
Sarandos spoke about the upcoming Narnia movies Gerwig is making for Netflix in the filmmaker’s Time “Women Of The Year” cover story. While it’s not necessarily a lot to go on, it’s a great tease for what’s to come from the director who made the highest-grossing movie of 2023, after breaking records for Warner Bros. and otherwise with Barbie.
What always drew me in about the Narnia books was the deep and very detailed world C.S. Lewis created. It’s comparable to Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, and yet it’s surprising the series has yet to get a great movie series to reflect that. Apparently Gerwig has signed on to helm at least two of these Narnia movies! Sarandos called Gerwig’s vision for Netflix’s Narnia movies “incredible visionary,” along with sharing they will very much be “rooted in faith” like the books are. Greta Gerwig also said this about her next movie:
It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions. As a child, you accept the whole thing—that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.
Gerwig has previously gotten honest about feeling really “intimidated” about adapting the property, but in a good way since she feels like the franchise is “worthy” of being intimidated by. Greta Gerwig has been working on Narnia since before she stepped on the bright pink set of her latest movie. The director obviously just created a cultural phenomenon with the Barbie movie last year, so interest and confidence in the filmmaker has only skyrocketed.
Along with Greta Gerwig loving the Narnia books as a kid, she said she’s really attracted to C.S. Lewis’ “euphorically dreamlike” writing style. Following the filmmaker previously adapting Little Women with such care and blowing my mind with Barbie, I honestly feel like the franchise is in the right hands!
