He’s commented, though, on Prince Caspian:
“We may have made a mistake in doing PRINCE CASPIAN as the second one,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, PRINCE CASPIAN is one of the lesser-liked books. We also made a slightly more adult, darker story, and we shouldn’t have.”
Granted, if they would have skipped Caspian, Narnia fans would have wondered what might have been when the series just moved along. Peter and Susan would have been inexplicably absent, and we would have been fielding questions about their status, and why they skipped the book for months.
One thing that makes his comments really interesting is his statement about it being a more adult, darker story. It was, and I suppose that’s part of the reason that it was marketed the way that it was. But I don’t fault them for that. They did what they thought was right at the time, and hindsight in this case, is definitely 20/20.
Then he goes on to say “and we shouldn’t have” which a lot of Narnia fans would probably agree with. If it wasn’t as dark or adult a story, Aslan might have appeared more. The story might have followed the children as each of them starts to see Aslan one by one, as it is in the book.
This, however, is a hopeful story, as Mr. Johnson clearly understands the mistakes that were made, and should the right studio be found to join Walden Media, those mistakes will not be made again. Walden Media continues its’ search for a production partner, as they are still behind the series, 100%!
Addendum: I really enjoyed the darker and more adult story for Prince Caspian, as I have said in the past! 🙂