Narnia Fans Cast is the official podcast of NarniaFans.com, bringing together Narnia news, discussion, music, history, original stories, and voices from the Narnia fan community.
It is available on: YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Castbox, Goodpods, iHeart, and PocketCasts.
First launched during the Walden Media era of The Chronicles of Narnia films, Narnia Fans Cast chronicled an extraordinary time to be a Narnia fan, when new movies were being made, casting announcements were arriving, trailers were appearing, and fans were gathering online to talk about what might come next.
Today, Narnia Fans Cast has returned. Along with new episodes covering the latest chapter in Narnia’s history, we are restoring the original podcast archive so that a piece of Narnia Fans history can be heard again.
Whether you’ve been following NarniaFans.com for decades or you’ve only recently discovered the world beyond the wardrobe, you’re welcome to join us.
About Narnia Fans Cast
Narnia Fans Cast has never been just a news podcast.
Over the years, the program has combined news and commentary with community discussions, interviews, music, humor, retrospectives, and original storytelling. That variety has always reflected NarniaFans.com itself: a place where people don’t merely follow news about The Chronicles of Narnia, but celebrate the books, adaptations, music, characters, ideas, and friendships that have grown around them.
The original Narnia Fans Cast was produced during the era of the Walden Media films, giving listeners a front-row seat as a new generation of Narnia adaptations came to life. Episodes discussed developments surrounding The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, along with the conversations taking place among Narnia fans at the time.
Those old episodes have since become something we never really intended them to be: a time capsule.
Listening today means returning to a moment when nobody knew what the next trailer would reveal, what the next movie would change, or where the Narnia film series was headed.
And now, with a new era of Narnia adaptations underway, Narnia Fans Cast has opened the wardrobe door once again.
The Original Narnia Fans Cast
Narnia Fans Cast began during the first great wave of excitement surrounding the Walden Media Narnia movies. It was produced by John Burkitt and hosted by Andy Filipowich. Regulars included John Burkitt, Andy Filipowich, Paul Martin, and Roger Thomas. As the show went on, the cast did change, but John Burkitt remained steadfast.
Podcasting itself was still relatively young, and the show provided NarniaFans.com with another way to bring the community together. Rather than simply publishing the latest news on the website, Narnia Fans Cast could talk about it, debate it, laugh about it, and hear from other people in the Narnia community.
The show continued through the Walden era, although releases eventually became less frequent. By Episode 45, released in September 2009, even the episode title acknowledged the situation:
“It’s Back.”
And then, eventually, Narnia Fans Cast went quiet. But it never entirely disappeared. Old episode pages remained scattered throughout the NarniaFans.com archives. Recordings survived on old drives and backups. People who had listened to the podcast remembered it. Years passed. Narnia changed.
And then it was time to bring the show back.
Narnia Fans Cast Returns
Rather than creating a completely new podcast, John Burkitt and Paul Martin decided to continue the one we already had.
That means the new Narnia Fans Cast continues the original episode numbering and treats everything that came before as part of the same history.
At the same time, we began searching through the NarniaFans.com archives for the original recordings. All original episodes have been recovered and restored so that listeners can once again hear the podcast. When we went back through the old episodes, we realized that sometimes we had mentioned things like phone numbers that we no longer have, and there were times where the audio of one speaker overlapped with another speaker. We took the time to edit that content out, and we did so in a way that kept the integrity of the episode and what everyone was saying intact. And then we put the episodes out on YouTube and Spotify for Creators.
The result is a podcast that can look both directions at once.
We can revisit the days when Disney and Walden Media were bringing Narnia to theaters while following Netflix and Greta Gerwig as they prepare to bring a new interpretation of Narnia to audiences.
Nearly two decades separate those worlds.
Narnia Fans Cast has been there for both.
Meet Evening Star
The host of the revived Narnia Fans Cast is John Burkitt, better known to longtime members of the Narnia Fans community as Evening Star.
John has been part of NarniaFans.com for many years as a writer, storyteller, commentator, and member of the community. His love of Narnia extends beyond simply reporting what is happening. He is particularly interested in the ideas, music, imagination, and storytelling surrounding C.S. Lewis’s world.
That makes the modern Narnia Fans Cast an unconventional mixture.
One moment Evening Star may be discussing the latest developments surrounding Netflix’s The Magician’s Nephew. The next he may be joining Jonathon Svendsen’s efforts in dusting off a nearly forgotten song from the Walden Media era, exploring an idea inspired by Narnia, or inviting listeners to settle in for another chapter of an original story.
That’s exactly the kind of program Narnia Fans Cast is meant to be.
What’s on Narnia Fans Cast?
Narnia News
There’s always something happening beyond the wardrobe.
Narnia Fans Cast follows the latest news surrounding The Chronicles of Narnia, including Netflix’s adaptations, casting, production developments, books, music, events, and other happenings throughout the Narnia world.
But the podcast gives us something a headline can’t: room to talk about what the news actually means.
The Bard’s Tale
Narnia has always inspired people to tell stories of their own.
The Bard’s Tale brings original storytelling to Narnia Fans Cast, turning part of the podcast into an old-fashioned serialized audio program.
Its first featured story is Herod’s Bend, written by John Burkitt.
Herod’s Bend
Herod’s Bend follows Ripley Pond as he begins a new chapter of his life at Pond Place. What begins with restoration and loss gradually opens into friendship, discovery, and the unexpected things hidden within an old home and an old community.
The story is presented chapter by chapter on Narnia Fans Cast, with a cast of voices bringing John’s characters to life.
New listeners can begin with Chapter 1 and follow the story from the beginning.
From the Narnia Fans Community
NarniaFans.com has always been about more than one person’s opinion. The podcast continues that tradition through conversations about Narnia, C.S. Lewis, adaptations, fandom, and the ideas these stories inspire. Sometimes the most interesting part of being a fan isn’t discovering the answer. It’s discovering how differently several people can look through the same wardrobe.
The Narnia Fans Cast Archive
Narnia Fans Cast has a history stretching back to the early days of Narnia podcasting. The archive includes both the Classic Narnia Fans Cast, originally released during the Walden Media era, and the revived Narnia Fans Cast, which continues the original numbering today.
Classic Narnia Fans Cast
The classic episodes preserve Narnia fandom as it existed while the Walden Media film series was unfolding. Listening to them today is very different from reading a retrospective written years later. These aren’t people looking backward with the answers already known. They capture fans reacting to events as they happened.
Rumors were still rumors. Upcoming movies were still upcoming. Questions didn’t have answers yet. And sometimes everyone was completely wrong. That’s part of the fun. Where the original audio survives, episodes have been restored and returned to the archive with as much of their original release information preserved as we decided was appropriate.
The New Narnia Fans Cast
The revived episodes continue where the original podcast left off rather than starting over at Episode 1.
The world surrounding Narnia may have changed dramatically, but the purpose remains familiar: gather around, find out what’s happening, and enjoy talking about Narnia together.
New episodes can include the latest Narnia news, original commentary, and installments of The Bard’s Tale.