As the premiere date for the first movie in the new reboot of The Chronicles of Narnia draws closer, we will think more about what we hope the Oscar-nominated director will get right. Greta Gerwig has her work cut out for her when it comes to adapting the books faithfully, but putting a new spin on the story for a modern audience.

Netflix and Gerwig’s Narnia reboot will first adapt the prequel novel The Magician’s Nephew, as confirmed by Carey Mulligan’s casting as Digory Kirke’s mother. Barbie‘s Emma Mackey has also been cast as the White Witch, while Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep are rumored for Uncle Andrew and Aslan, respectively.

The Chronicles of Narnia are a beloved book series and a cornerstone of fantasy literature, making the pressure to adapt certain moments properly immense, especially when the movies of the 2000s have already done a perfect job in some regards. With a strong cast and precise writing, Gerwig should pull it off if she understands which elements are key.

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Capturing The Wonder Of Discovering Narnia

2005’s Scene Of Lucy Finding Narnia Is Breathtaking & The Tone Holds Throughout

The scene in 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, where Lucy finds Narnia, is dazzling and essentially flawless. A combination of the score, the production design, and Georgie Henley’s performance being ᴀssisted by her being carried on set blindfolded, makes the audience feel the pure wonder of seeing Narnia for the first time.

Throughout the books and the first run of Narnia movies, the sense of Narnia being a powerfully whimsical place never goes away, even though the human children are only called there when the country is in dire need of them. The new Narnia movies will require an excellent production design team to again find a perfect vision for the fairy-tale-inspired environment.

This feeling of childlike wonder evoked by Narnia is a major draw of the series and underscores its core theme of the importance of childhood innocence. The children are deliriously happy when they see Narnia for the first time, as they are every time they return to it.

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Conveying Aslan’s Larger Than Life Presence

The Atmosphere Is Supposed To Shift Whenever Aslan Is There

Every time Aslan appears in Narnia, his very presence is simply felt by everyone around him, through his power, his righteousness, and his position as the true king of Narnia. It’s a larger-than-life effect that can be hard to get right on screen, but which the new movies absolutely need to do to be successful.

The books have the benefit of extensive prose, where C. S. Lewis crafted some unique metaphors to evoke very particular and poignant feelings in the readers so they would understand the children’s experiences with Aslan. The previous movies also, amazingly, perfected Aslan, with strong special effects, a grandiose score, and Liam Neeson’s voice performance.

While Aslan’s design in the new movies is a subject of debate, as the character is expected to be gender-swapped and voiced by Meryl Streep, the Oscar-winning actress certainly has the gravitas to embody Aslan. They now must make the optics surrounding her as stunning — though the loss of the old score is a major disadvantage.

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Nailing The Kids’ Arcs Of Becoming Rulers

Seeing The Kids’ Real Fears Is What Makes Narnia So Impactful

Narnia is meant to impart valuable lessons to the children who visit about bravery, compᴀssion, and faith, which they will carry with them when they return to the real world and grow into adults. Another aspect of the story that is very tangible in both the books and previous movies is how the Pevensies are sympathetic, flawed individuals who evolve in realistic ways.

Lucy is perhaps the exception, as she is the true believer in Narnia from the beginning, and her more complex storyline of feeling insecure about her looks doesn’t happen until she is older. But Peter’s fear, Edmund’s greed, Susan’s doubt, and Eustace’s narrow-mindedness are all well portrayed, as are the ways they push themselves to do better because Narnia needs them to.

It again comes across in Lewis’ unique, often very straightforward writing about how these are nervous children figuring things out as they go along, as well as good performances that often reflect how tense and unsure a child would be in this situation. The children’s arcs are the very point of the series, and therefore must be done justice in the remake.

5

Making The Animal Characters Compelling

The Animals Sometimes Come Across As Set Dressing

A key characteristic of Narnia is that human residents are actually rare, especially in the country’s early days. Most of the population are talking animals, fauns, nymphs, centaurs, and other magical creatures. However, the fact that the human children are the main characters and the most relatable to the audience tends to reduce the supporting supernatural characters.

Aslan draws a lot of attention due to his place in the story, while Reepicheep’s arc was also adapted well for the big screen, inspiring audience investment and emotion. However, a lot of the other animal characters come across as simply being background environmental elements or narrative devices to get the children from one place to another.

Narnia would feel much richer if characters like the Beavers, Trufflehunter, the centaur lieutenants, and more were given fuller characterizations and arcs. In The Magician’s Nephew, the cab horse-turned-flying horse Fledge has enormous potential as a character if he is adapted in the right way and given a good voice actor.

4

The White Witch Being Terrifying & Complex

Greta Gerwig Could Actually Do Better Than The Old Movies In This Regard

Tilda Swinton’s portrayal of Jadis/the White Witch is one of the best fantasy movie villain performances ever, and is going to be extremely difficult for Emma Mackey to live up to. Swinton’s subtle acting choices convey the smallest instances of fear and the complicated mind of the White Witch as she sets out to rule Narnia forever.

Gerwig’s iteration of the White Witch will also need to be grand and terrifying, while exhibiting allusions to deeper complexities. In fact, she could go deeper in this regard, as the previous adaptations and even the books don’t fully delve into the Witch’s psyche or backstory.

The Magician’s Nephew does reveal where Jadis comes from, which will likely make it into the movie due to the story’s inherent structure. However, Gerwig could create an even better villain of paradoxes and inner turmoil by delving into why Jadis is who she is, while still making her outwardly an unstoppable force of nature.

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Striking A Balance Between Faithfulness To The Books & Modern Updates

This Is Already A Huge Talking Point Surrounding The Upcoming Narnia Movies

Many of the harsh realities of rereading the Narnia books stem from them being somewhat outdated. Meryl Streep’s rumored casting as Aslan has sparked backlash, but it shows Gerwig’s willingness to depart from the source material in major ways, which could be very beneficial to the new movies.

The previous Narnia movies gave the female characters some freedom from the book depictions of their stereotyped personalities, but Gerwig will likely push Polly, Lucy, and Susan’s character development further. When they get to The Last Battle, Susan’s fate could be changed or better justified.

The Middle Eastern-coded Calormen population to the south of Narnia is also negatively stereotyped, which needs to be drastically changed if it is adapted. With a source material like Narnia, people are often very attached to the original iteration of the story. Gerwig will have to strike a balance between old and new, with some elements that clearly need to be thrown out.

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Translating The Unconventional Plot Structures To Screen

The Magician’s Nephew, Prince Caspian, & The Last Battle Are Harder To Adapt

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is regarded as the best Narnia installment, and it was the most successful as a Hollywood adaptation, in part because it has a very classic adventure narrative. The Silver Chair is similar, and will also probably be a huge hit as a movie, if they eventually get to making it.

However, other chapters have more challenging structures. The Magician’s Nephew has Polly and Digory going on an adventure between various worlds, but it has a less clear beginning, middle, and end, with the whole creation of Narnia coming into play. Prince Caspian and The Last Battle, especially, are character rather than plot-driven.

Gerwig pulling off The Magician’s Nephew right out of the gate could illustrate that she has a sense of how to adapt these less conventional narratives in ways that are true to the books but still as engaging as any fantasy adventure movie. At least she will have some practice at it before she tackles the later novels.

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Establishing The Broader Narnia Universe

Narnia Implies Many Other Worlds

Lewis implied that surrounding Narnia is a very rich universe of magic and many realms, but the story remains focused on the ultimate journey to reach Aslan’s Country. Polly and Digory essentially drive by other worlds, a version of Morgan le Fay may exist in the setting, and Narnia’s Northern Witches have no backstory.

This construct of just referencing more magic and characters without fully explaining it is less likely to appeal to today’s audiences. It is still possible to keep the story centralized while fleshing out the worldbuilding, perhaps by concentrating on how to tie those elements into the narrative’s core themes.

Again, Gerwig has to strike a balance between how The Chronicles of Narnia were written and how she can best adapt them now. People simply wanting to know who these side characters are doesn’t have to be the point, as they can contribute to a more textured vision of Narnia, where the children’s triumphs mean more.