I'm aware the conversation has moved on now but I want to respond to the possibility of setting the later books in current times as someone who grew up in Southern England during the early 2000s. I also saw someone comment on the most recent news article (about the filming along the Thames) with a theory that LWW will be set during COVID and that explains why the children were all indoors and exploring the house, although it doesn't explain why they were with the professor.

Posted by: @fantasia

PC, the kids are at a train station waiting to go back to school (right?). This could be a bus stop? Waiting to be picked up by someone else in a car? A taxi/Uber?  

This wouldn't even need to be changed as much as a bus stop because while most people took the bus to school I had friends who used to take the train. I can also confirm that pupils still do because just a few months ago I ended up on a train during school finishing time and at the next stop a load of children in uniform got on. I don't think primary school children would take the train to school but over here you start secondary school at 11 so it's not too much of a stretch to age up Lucy a little to make this work. And obviously it's different in that it's their daily commute rather than heading to boarding school at the beginning of term but entering Narnia from a train station on the way to school is very much still a possibility if it was set in modern times.

Posted by: @icarus

They'll be some sad losses in the costume details.(long socks, braces etc) but the majority of the costumes can still be more or less the same (shirts, trousers, dresses, cardigans etc.)

The school settings would barely be noticeably different (aside from the lack of hats in the uniform) and even the mansion in LWW is Georgian era or older as it is, so that would still be the same.

Depending on the socio-economic background that Greta decides for the Pevensies hats could definitely still be a part of the uniform. While not common among state school uniforms, a lot of private schools (especially around London) still wear hats even if only for formal events and special occasions. The rest of the uniform would be near identical, especially with the recent increase in schools switching from plain black/grey skirts to tartan ones which I personally think look more old fashioned. Coincidentally my secondary school tie was striped gold/navy and looked almost identical to the one that Susan and Lucy wear in Walden PC (much to teenage me's delight).

Posted by: @sir-cabbage

To the point about the lamppost: I think it can still be of the originally intended type. Technology was moving on, but a lot of the traditional objects were still around. Still are around certain places, fortunately.

Good point! Despite technological advancements it's still fairly common to see lampposts designed in a older/more traditional style but using modern bulbs to produce the light. I wouldn't be surprised if Greta uses one of these for aesthetic purposes and considering how well known the lamppost is.  

EDIT: I don't know what's going on with the formatting of the first paragraph. I've tried to edit it and can't see to remove the white background so apologies if it's difficult to read. 

Posted by: @fantasia

Soooo... you're welcome to disagree, but I don't find any other book with a really strong need to be set in the time period that Lewis wrote it. But I felt that way about MN too, and pretty much no one agrees with me on that.  

I very much agree with you here @fantasia.  Tbh, I probably would in general lean towards being a "Narnia purist" and prefer to see Narnia films set in the era they were originally set in by Lewis himself, and probably a bit more resembling something like the BBC productions (with better technology and a bit more magic though!) - well that's what a movie of any of the Narnia books would be like if I directed it anyway!   However, I do, 100% agree with you on the whole timeline certainly not really being essential, especially when it comes to the later books - as I similarly laid out reasons why (in a previous post).  And, as I also have somewhat indicated, although I'm still not completely sure where I stand, I'm finding swayed more in a positive direction on my positivity dial for my hopes for Greta Gerwig's production, since seeing it emerge that she's setting MN in 1955.

So much of what I've read and heard from people close to Gerwig about their excitement for her vision for Narnia, actually has me almost fully optimistic about her plans - as long as she is faithful in her depictions of Narnia, and more importantly of Aslan Himself!   If her movie(s) turn out to be as successful as those close to her seem to very much believe they will be - why wouldn't (1) she be encouraged to continue on making more if her vision and plan for the series is to do so or (2) future directors not be willing to jump on board with the timeline change, which to some degree could make the story more relatable to today's audience without having to change too much else story-wise.  

Do people not still ride trains in the US, then, if it seems an unusual thing from your side of "the pond"? They did the last time I was over there (2019), at least in Boston.

Many large, and not so large, cities in the US have commuter trains now in 2025. They have been decades in the planning and execution.

Posted by: @cobalt-jade

Many large, and not so large, cities in the US have commuter trains now in 2025. They have been decades in the planning and execution.

Yes, I guessed that was the case, particularly as I've used commuter trains in a large city in the US (Boston) in the past myself. I was just... surprised that anybody would ask such a question as "Do people still ride trains in England?" And I'm sure somebody else asked the same question a while back in a different thread where we were discussing the possibility of Narnia adaptations being set in or close to the present day, and another poster (I forget who) asked whether there are still trains in England, to make it possible to do a modern-day version of the railway accident in LB.

I just can't quite comprehend why anybody would think we no longer have trains in England (and indeed the rest of the United Kingdom, of which England is only one component part), unless they no longer had trains in their own part of the world and were assuming it was the same everywhere.  

Yes, indeed – we definitely still have trains here, and they're pretty well-used really! Not the best service in the world, mind... And the price ever going up is becoming problematic... But for me they have been integral for travelling around England and the rest of Britain over the years! 

What was the original point about trains again? 😛 Going by the timing, the '50s would have had steam still, but it's likely any trains in the later stories will be the more modern sort. Less lovely to look at, but the last book's train inclusion is hardly a happy event, that it really won't matter at that point.

Posted by: @sir-cabbage

What was the original point about trains again? 

I was just curious if it still made sense for the Pevensie children to be waiting at a train station in PC, as well as everyone at the train station in LB, if the storyline is moved up to more modern times. 

Posted by: @courtenay

I just can't quite comprehend why anybody would think we no longer have trains in England (and indeed the rest of the United Kingdom, of which England is only one component part), unless they no longer had trains in their own part of the world and were assuming it was the same everywhere.  

Yep, exactly this. We don't have passenger trains where I live, with one exception, where the train leaves at 2am. So I was just curious.  

Down here, trains are 99% box cars and next to non existent commuters. The only train I've ever been in was as a field trip as a kid. Most commuter trains avoid my part of the southern US.

After reading some of the comments on this post it got me thinking.

Bear in mind, I don't know anything about the director of this new series. I don't watch Netflix, or any series at all. I'm pretty stuck in my ways when it comes to the media I watch, for better or for worse.

With that said, I am extremely worried that those involved in the project, and Netflix included, will not follow the Christian narrative of the story. The Magician's Nephew is rooted deep in Genesis and Christian morality. I worry that these themes will be lost as to not alienate audiences. I gauge this by fact that you don't really see a lot of media like this in the mainstream (at least I personally don't), and that the series isn't even taking place in the setting that the book did.

In short, I hope the series doesn't sever its roots with C.S. Lewis's vision for mainstream appeal. 

Don't take this as me being pessimistic, these are just my thoughts, and I'll remain cautiously optimistic going in.

@deathsorcery even with all the changes being made to the time period etc, I would still say it was extremely unlikely that the Christian aspects of the story get cut, not least because Greta Gerwig has purposefully gone out of her way to insert religious parallels into her last 3 films (she's spoken about this in numerous interviews).

Therefore given that you have a movie like Barbie which is stuffed full of religious iconography and biblical parallels to the story of creation, it would seem incredibly weird if Gerwig then went out of her way to remove those from Magician's Nephew.

Bringing this back on topic to the 1950s time period shift though, I don't think it's possible to argue that the exact temporal settings of the stories are crucial to the delivery of the religious aspects... If anything I can only see that making everything (relatively) more current would only serve to strengthen that connection.

@icarus See, I never saw Barbie or anything she has made. But what you said does make me somewhat excited to see what will happen with this series. 

What a series for Narnia truly needs is someone who "gets it" being in a position of authority in the creative process.

So a few thoughts:

 - Setting MN in the 50s and the other books in the 1990s may just be a budget thing.  I would imagine it’s easier/cheaper to replicate those periods on screen than 1900s & 1940s.  Feels like there would be less need for CGI plus more ability to do location shots using existing streets & backdrops rather than constructing elaborate sets.

 - I’d like to take comfort from the lion on the poster with a glorious mane, but I fear it’s a “head-fake”.  I would be unsurprised if the movie included a shot of the glorious male lion w/mane on the poster and then it turns out that Aslan is actually female, “subverting the trope.”

I hate to say it but seeing the poster makes me think it’s even more likely that Aslan will be female, in an ambition to do something “unexpected” and surprise the audience.

This has just appeared on the BBC News website — looks like Bradford in Yorkshire is also a filming location. Had we heard anything about that yet?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jpz8d19zdo

That's a great link! There's a short piece of video about, but this info on the area itself is good to read: we often don't get to hear about locations of movies we watch.

(I have been through Bradford quite a few times on trains, but haven't visited)

The news posters have the latest story up.  

Although it's getting to the point that there are so many spoilers I may have to stop reading them soon or else I'll have already watched the movie by the time it's released! Lol 

I don't love that the witch appears to have a working wand while riding through the streets of London (though that's not completely confirmed yet) but the ride sure looks exciting! And I like seeing the police officers chasing after her on foot and bike.

I agree, Fantasia — I was finding I didn't want to look at the photos on the recent post because they were giving away a little too much about certain moments. It is interesting to read a little more about the development, though! From now on I'll be more careful which updates I look into. 

I hope I don't find out they've been filming anywhere near me, as I'd be so sad about missing out on being an extra for a Narnia adaptation, whatever we end up thinking about it 😆.