NarniaWeb Forum - Recent Topics

Other roles for Meryl

bluestarrr — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:06:20 +0000

I know most of the discussion has been on whether Meryl will voice Aslan, and some others have suggested she'd be better for Aunt Letty (which I agree with), but what other options might exist? Bear in mind that Greta seems to be adding in a lot of material that isn't from the book.

Here is one idea i had:

* Meryl plays Jadis's mother in flashbacks showing the rivalry between Jadis and her sister. Perhaps the mother warns Jadis and, later, when she encounters Aslan, she hears her mother's voice, not what he is saying. (I came up with this idea when trying to get my head around the fact that Meryl was in discussion to voice Aslan).

Another option could be she plays Polly's mother (on face value, she would appear too old, but it does appear Polly's family are going to play some part in the film).

Or, it might just be a cameo, as a shop-keeper when Jadis goes on her London rampage -- something which, thankfully, we know is going to feature in the film.

What was your first impression of the Walden films?

Narnian78 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:05:52 +0000

Did you like the Walden films when you first saw them? The first one, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, was shown in 2005 during the Christmas holiday season. I watched it in a movie theater, which was the only way one could see it before the DVD was released. I thought it was quite a good film even though there were some deviations from the book (e.g., the wolves chasing the Pevensies on to the ice), but not too many to ruin the story. Prince Caspian kind of disappointed me with an adult playing the role of a young teenager and with its extended battle scenes that were not in the book. But I got to like it better years later when rewatching it, realizing that it had more of the book in it than I had previously thought. Voyage of the Dawn Treader I liked somewhat because it had beautiful special effects, and I thought the story was a bit closer to the book than Prince Caspian. That film was criticized too much, although it could have been much improved. I have to admit that I really enjoyed going to the theater and watching all three of the films. And I ended up buying all three of them on Blu-ray and have rewatched them quite often. I liked them better than most of today’s films and recommend them to all Narnia enthusiasts. You can like something that isn’t perfect even if it is just for entertainment, although the original books will offer you so much more. :)

When did you first view the BBC Narnia?

Narnian78 — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 11:57:37 +0000

I think it was on my local PBS channel that I first watched the BBC series in 1988 when the series was first broadcast. A few years later on a rebroadcast I taped it with a VCR and a few years after that I bought the professionally made tapes. I watched each of the three series (they were broadcast as three long movies here in the U. S.) a few months after they first were completed. There were two DVD sets that I owned and the newer one had more bonus features. I still have those sets. I was much more pleased with BBC production than the 1979 cartoon since it had real people and not some animation that looked like the 1970’s. I didn’t care that much if the special effects were low budget, and I actually liked the puppet that was used for Aslan.

What was your first impression of the BBC Narnia and did you like it on the first viewing?

Did you have the books read to you by your elementary school teacher?

Narnian78 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 19:19:19 +0000

I remember that in third and fifth grade my elementary school teacher read to us The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Silver Chair, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Horse and His Boy. It was a very memorable experience from decades ago. My teacher had a gift for dramatizing Narnia and Bible stories, and she would have made a fine actress. This was my introduction to Narnia and C. S. Lewis. Did you have a similar experience from your childhood? Do teachers still read stories out loud in class? I think that is a good way to introduce children to the classic books of literature. :)

Narnia vs. Harry Potter.....again

fantasia — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 04:36:11 +0000

I was aware that there was another Harry Potter reboot series in the works, but I didn't know until today when I watched the trailer for it, that it's competing with Narnia.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is releasing on HBO Max this December (Christmas?) 2026.

And as we all know, Narnia is releasing on Netflix around Christmas 2026 (don't have the exact date in my head).

I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan, but I enjoyed the first three books, so I was curious about the trailer. It looks good! The cinematography at Hogwarts was especially fun imho.

Anyways, I was a bit annoyed to find out once again Harry Potter and Narnia were competing for views (Walden's LWW came out Dec 9, 2005 while HP and the Goblet of Fire came out shortly before on Nov 18, 2005.) For once, I'd like Narnia to have a chance to shine on its own (assuming it's good, that is).

But mostly I was annoyed that Harry Potter has a trailer and we Narnia fans are still sitting around begging for even the tiniest scraps of info.....like a cast list. *pouts* {ym}:waiting: {ym}:sigh: {ym}:eyeroll:

Would a Female Aslan be Theologically Sound?

Lamp Lighter — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:14:19 +0000

In a string following the announcement and final confirmation that Meryl Streep will be acting in Greta Gerwig's Narnia adaptation, the topic of the theological soundness of a female voiced Aslan was raised, and quite quickly gathered a few interested Narnia lovers. But as theologically discussion is not exactly appropriate for news strings, I thought we might move that discussion here.

So, the question is this: Would a female Aslan be theologically sound? If you have an opinion on the matter, (especially if you can bring some more scripture to the table), please set out your argument below.

A final note. I am hoping we can discuss this matter (which is very weighty, considering it touches on the identity of God himself) with humility, grace, and brotherly love. That said, please commence.

Are They Changing Aunt Letty's Character?

Col Klink — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:59:54 +0000

I've been thinking of doing this thread ever since Denise Gough's comments about her character being mean to children, but I refrained since we weren't sure if she was playing Letty and there was already so much controversy around the upcoming Magician's Nephew movie, why add more? But now it's looking more like Gough is playing Letty and fans are talking about it in the comments section of Narniaweb's story on that, so I thought we might as well discuss it here too.

Since I'm lazy, I'll just quote the relevant comments which all had good points. Normally, I'd hesitate to quote them here that since the comment section is less moderated than the forum, but these comments were pretty polite.

Forrest:

To be fair to Letty, while firm and tough (which described not her treatment of others, but her toughness in being thrown across the room), she shows concern for Digory’s well being, trying to shield him from her rotten brother:

“Whenever tries to say anything to me at meal times — he
never even tries to talk to — she always shuts him up. She says,
‘Don’t worry the boy, Andrew’ or ‘I’m sure Digory doesn’t want to
hear about that’ or else ‘Now, Digory, wouldn’t you like to go out and
play in the garden?'” ….and she refers to her dying sister as, “But poor, dear little Mabel!”

I don’t think “mean to children” fits her as written.

Bolton:

Do you really think Gerwig would take a fully realized book character (and a female one at that) and reduce them to one that is a one-note, mean character? Even if she plays up a bit of Letty’s strict, “mean” persona for the children (which I can see in the book, especially from a child’s perspective), I can’t picture her as being a simple baddie without complex character motivations where she doesn’t care for protecting Digory or her sister.

Forrest:

I have no idea what Gerwig is doing with this character. I’m only comparing and contrasting what the actress has said versus how Letty is written. I get no sense that Letty is “mean to children” in the book. I didn’t say nor do I think Letty will be portrayed as a villain, either. Just that she’s not mean, not as Lewis wrote her.

F:

I really hope GG doesn’t intend to make Aunt Letty an unsympathetic character in the film. The last thing we fans want is to side with the Witch during their confrontation scene where Letty tells the witch off and gets thrown.

Bolton:

I don’t think you need to worry about that. Gerwig writes fully fleshed-out, real characters, so the idea of Gerwig taking a well-intentioned female character in the book and making her into one that is unsympathetic to the point we’re rooting for the witch doesn’t make sense.

F:

This actress describes her role as being “mean to children“. Maybe it’s just hyperbole, but it doesn’t make sense for Aunt Letty, given that no one in the story (save Uncle Andrew) would think of her as ‘mean’. Yet I’m not really worried about this potential change; I’ve got bigger fish to fry regarding this Netflix-Narnia ‘revision’.

What do you guys think? The literary Aunt Letty may be stuffy and Digory doesn't like her much but she's also kind of cool in her own way. I'd be disappointed to see her made a villain and I wouldn't expect it, but Denise Gough knows more about this movie than any of us do.

Crazy thought: Maybe they're reversing Uncle Andrew and Aunt Letty's roles in the adaptation.

Narnia Characters Ages in Movies

Thef Maria — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:27:08 +0000

Calculating the ages of the Narnia characters in the movies!

So I know I am notoriously known in this website for mainly ranting about Ramandu's Daughter and how I dislike her but today I am not here for that. I am here for something different, actually something I did long ago and never talked about it here. And I don't want my presence in this page to be mainly for arguments. This discussion is not here to compare the books to the movies in general or to judge the casting choices, it is mainly to discuss about the characters ages in the movies.

We are familiar with the timeline in Narnia and the characters ages in each book. There is even a space in this website for that purpose which shows it in detail. But when in the movies, the actors' real ages play a major role on the picturing of the characters as well and it opens a new discussion, not only for the characters ages but also for the timeline of the story as well, at least in the real world.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005):

So the actors at that time were in fact kids so it's not like we're seeing an entire different world. But the ages of the characters in the movies clearly don't 100% match with the books. And at this point I think the aging in the movies I am going to place here also alter the date of birth of each character so bear with me. Here's my headcanon:

- Peter Pevensie: 16 (Born in 1925)

- Susan Pevensie: 14 (Born in 1927)

- Edmund Pevensie: 12 (Born in 1929)

- Lucy Pevensie: 8 (Born in 1932)

Golden Age:

Assuming 18 years have passed since their coronation to their return in their world.

- High King Peter the Magnificent: 16-34

- Queen Susan the Gentle: 14-32

- King Edmund the Just: 12-30

- Queen Lucy the Valiant: 8-26

Prince Caspian (2008):

I know very well that in the movie it's stated that after they go back to their real world a year passes before they return to Narnia but to be honest I cannot imagine the characters aging so quickly. Like two whole years had passed for the actors. So I am assuming that two years have actually passed since 1940 and I am assuming that, when Peter says "It's been a year" he may as well mean that they just waited an entire year that passed and the year they live now in England is 1942. And I know very well that Caspian's age in the books is 13 but Ben Barnes was 27 at the time of the filming. In the movie, I can say that Caspian actually has the mindset of a pre adult teenager, and I think I can speculate and say that Ben looked a bit younger than 27 at that time. So here's my headcanon:

- Peter Pevensie: 18

- Susan Pevensie: 16

- Edmund Pevensie: 14

- Lucy Pevensie: 10

- Prince Caspian: 17

The Voyage of the Dawn Trader (2011):

Now here I am going to speculate again that 2 years have passed for Edmund and Lucy since in the movie we don't get a mention of that matter and let's say now it's 1944 in England while of course in Narnia 3 years have passed for Caspian separately. And I think Eustace himself comes a bit closer to his age in the book.

- Edmund Pevensie: 16

- Lucy Pevensie: 12

- King Caspian: 20

- Eustace Scrubb: 11

That is my speculation. I hope you find it interesting and in terms with the books and the movies. The ages of the characters of course change some course of the story in the movies themselves but I don't think that is necessarily good or bad. It's as it was with Game of Thrones where the characters in the books were mostly teenagers and it's a bit less alarming to see them more grown in the series in such situations. And that's all. Tell me your own opinions!

The Picture in the Bedroom

Sir Cabbage — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:34:56 +0000

The mystery of 'The Picture in the Bedroom'. Chapter 1 of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

'It was the only picture in the house that they liked. Aunt Alberta didn't like it at all but she couldn't get rid of it because it had been a wedding present from someone she did not want to offend.'

Eustace and Lucy feel that: "... She is such a very Narnian ship."

It got me thinking. And the more I thought about it, the more questions kept coming. Probably even more than I've managed to mention here.

As a wedding present, presumably Alberta would have had the picture over ten years. This was well before even the Pevensies knew of Narnia. According to the timeline this story sets place in 1942. Had Aslan really set the wheels in motion all that time ago? This painting appearing so that one day it would end up in a room in Eustace's house. But also banking on a Narnian voyage that would require him and the two younger Pevensies. Where do you suppose the painting was bought? Seemingly somewhere the provenance was unknown, perhaps dropped in some kind of junk shop (but then would this someone have got it from such a place?) Is there more to this someone? It's not difficult to imagine Aslan working it that the painting appeared one day and the shop owners or whoever just imagining they'd previously overlooked it. Perhaps the picture looked more of a regular our-world ship and gradually over time certain details changed, which only the children noticed as Alberta tended to avoid it or only give it a cursory glance.

Sometimes you're not supposed to dwell on such things too much in a children's book... but I couldn't help but muse over it :D. I'm really curious what others' might have thought about this before, if at all?