Since 2017, Greta Gerwig has directed three movies: Lady Bird, which was nominated for Best Picture and made $79 million on a $10 million budget; Little Women, which was nominated for Best Picture and earned $218.9 million on a $40 million budget; and Barbie, which was nominated for Best Picture and took home $1.4 billion on a reported $145 million budget. Gerwig is the rare filmmaker who makes critically acclaimed movies that are also massive box office hits, and for her next magic trick, she’s heading to Narnia.
Gerwig is attached to write and direct at least two movies for Netflix based on author C.S. Lewis’ beloved book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. There’s some cute British kids, a Jesus lion, Mr. Tumnus, you know the deal. Gerwig is currently working on the first film, which is presumably an adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with Prince Caspian to follow (“presumably” because neither Gerwig nor Netflix has confirmed if the movies will follow the chronology of the books). Netflix wants to turn all seven novels in the series into movies, and by hiring Gerwig, they’re off to a good start.
Here’s a chronicle of everything we know about Gerwig’s Narnia movies.
When the Netflix deal was announced, the streaming service’s CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement, “C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world. 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.” This was before Gerwig was officially attached, but she’s been working on the script for awhile.
Gerwig wrote the first draft for her Narnia movie — whether it’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe or otherwise — before production started on Barbie. “Knowing that I’d laid the groundwork for Narnia and wanted to return to it, that’s probably something I set up for myself psychologically,” she told Time.
Sarandos described the films as “bigger and bolder” than people think, but “it won’t be counter to how the audience may have imagined those worlds.” He added that they’re “rooted in faith,” like Lewis’ source material. Along those lines, Gerwig explained to Time that she was drawn to the author’s work because “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.”
There’s no cast details yet, so the dream of Timothée Chalamet — who was in Lady Bird and Little Women, and was almost in Barbie — playing Mr. Tumnus is still alive.
Production is expected to begin later this year, so don’t expect Narnia to be released until 2026.
This is the closest thing to an official trailer for now:
I think these Lonely Island guys are going to go far.
