It’s been a few years since we’ve heard any news on the Netflix Narnia front, but due to the pandemic many properties and projects were shelved, delayed, or outright cancelled. Now, we have it on good authority that the Netflix is going full steam with first season of their TV series based on The Chronicles of Narnia.
Right out of the gate, they look to be hitting the ground running with Jacob Tremblay( Room, Wonder) and Isabella Sermon ( Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Jurassic World: Dominion) in the leading roles as Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, with Sir Ben Kingsley ( Schindler’s List, Iron Man 3, Marvel’s Shang-Chi) as Uncle Andrew Ketterly, Orla Brady ( Star Trek: Picard) as Mabel Kirke, and Brenda Fricker ( Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Angels in the Outfield) as Aunt Letty. F. Murray Abraham (Star Trek: Insurrection, Marvel’s Moon Knight) will be taking over as the voice of Aslan while Gal Gadot ( Wonder Woman, Justice League, Death on the Nile, Snow White) has signed on for the part of The White Witch, and Orlando Bloom ( The Lord of the Rings, The Pirates of the Caribbean) will provide the voice of Fledge. Rounding up the cast in cameo roles that appear to be passing the torch from the older trilogy of films to the next series is Liam Neeson’s son, Micheál Richardson (Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi) as Frank, and Tilda Swinton’s daughter, Honor Swinton Byrne ( The Souviner) as Helen.
Each episode is slated to have a different director, including Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, Captain America: The First Avenger, Nutcracker and the Four Realms) who had previously been attached to direct The Silver Chair, Greta Gerwig ( Little Women, Barbie), Stephen Donnelly ( Scrooge: A Christmas Carol), Will Collins and Damian O’Connor ( Angela’s Christmas), and Bharat Nalluri ( The Man Who Invented Christmas), with Johnston and Gerwig overseeing the project to insure one coherent vision, akin to Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni on Star Wars: The Mandalorian, with the story adapted by Donnely, Collins, and O’Connor.
Season one is slated to run for only five episodes, estimated to be at least 45 minutes in length, and will adapt The Magician’s Nephew. Season Two, which has already been greenlit, will have a double episode count, and adapt both The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy, and will feature John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark) as Father Christmas and James MacAvoy taking over as Professor Kirke in his return to the Narnia franchise while Richard Dempsey and Sophie Cook ( Peter and Susan in the BBC Narnia series) will make a cameo appearance as “Jack and Helen Pevensie”, the parents of the four Pevensie children.
Check the link to get a glimpse of concept art of Gadot as Jadis.
