Honestly, I have mixed feelings about having a new cast. I really loved the previous cast and hope to see them again (Last Battle perhaps?), but I also know that some actors can't pull off being young anymore. It will be interesting to see the changes that are made and I look forward to hearing about the updates.

I am actually not against this idea. I just got done with having another marathon of the first 3 movies and I just didn't feel at all satisfied with the direction it took. Granted the first movie is unbeatable and the best of all of them and the cast were all amazing. I just like the idea of a fresh start and I was thinking this a few days ago. So I'm glad that they are making this change.

I can't wait for them to reveal the new cast.

Some others have pointed out that whether or not it's a "reboot" wouldn't really make a difference, since the Silver Chair incorporates so few continuing characters/plot threads from the previous books.

Eustace would be recast, but that was probably a given anyway. Will Poulter's grown up a lot, and though I enjoyed his performance in VoDT, he just wouldn't fit the role anymore.
Aslan's voice would be recast. This one tugs at my heartstrings a little more, since Liam Neeson had such a great voice for the Lion. That being said, the comments made by Mark Gordon seemed to be a broad sweeping of the movie, and not necessarily official specifics. If they kept on any cast member, Neeson would certainly be the easiest. Age in his voice wouldn't show up as much.
The only other recurring character is Caspian, and only for a few seconds at the end. They could get away with someone else there too, but even then, bringing back Ben Barnes wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Caspian comes back to life, and just happens to come back as a version of himself that was a little older than what we have seen before.

That's all just theory. I'm a little excited to see a reimagining of Narnia actually- the wastelands and underworld could lend themselves to some broad, Revenant-style cinematography that could really work, especially contrasted against the scenes in Aslan's country and the Narnian woodlands later on. And who knows- maybe the new Eustace and Jill will be as excellently cast as (In my opinion) Georgie Henley from LWW. Either way, I'm excited to see this movie!

I'm largely okay with this. I am somewhat saddened by the idea that we may not see Georgie Henley, for instance, reprising her role in HHB or LB, but I also understand if this new company wants to make a clean break from the Walden narrative and do their own thing with Narnia. (Also, if they brought back Georgie, that might make it difficult for them to make their own version of LWW down the line, since they've more or less accepted her version of Lucy as part of their own canon.)

While I did like Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan—he does have a "heavy, golden voice"—I'm not terribly disappointed by the idea of recasting him. I feel like Neeson's interpretation of Aslan just wasn't dynamic enough. He always a little too "wise old mentor"-ish for me. I would like Aslan to sound a bit younger and have a voice that, without being campy, suggests more of what he is feeling or thinking. A number of times characters react to Aslan's words because of the way he said something, not just what he said.

I'm most disappointed about Will Poulter and Ben Barnes not returning, but I'm okay with a new Trumpkin and Aslan. I am pretty excited about work finally seeming to move forward though!

I wonder...I really hope (and kinda think it's not entirely out of the question) for Gresham to push to bring back the original four Pevensies for HHB and even LB. Even if this is a "new franchise," I bet they're really taking it one movie at a time. If Gresham at least considers bringing back the Pevensies, then I'll be able to deal with Eustace and Caspian (since he's an old man in SC anyway!) being different.

I'm disappointed that they don't bring back the old cast, esp Liam for Aslan and the Pevencies for the Horse and his boy and The LAst Battle. They not really that young in those 2 movies anyways. Hope they reconsider. I liked Will Poulter in VDT, but I wondered that he might be to old for the role by now. Praying it will all be for the best. Yes, it's hard to change actors in the middle of it.

Concerning the recasting of Eustace: Yeaaah, I love it! Will Poulter was unbearably awful. He spoiled half of the movie for me.
Regarding the other juvenile actors and their progressing age, yes, it is necessary. It was difficult from the beginning to keep them in the right age for all upcoming episodes. In case of the older actors it doesn’t make really sense. If even they are missing it will be hard to think of the new films as sequels. The Chronicles of Narnia will be fragmented into two incomplete parts.

Here's our podcast discussion about Gordon's comments.

I'm not 100% convinced about the new-cast thing. It's still possible Gordon was just speaking very broadly and saying there would be lots of new characters and lots of new cast members. He was at the event promoting a TV show, so SC wasn't the first thing on his mind.

He also said there would be "all original characters," but we know that is not what he meant. It's clear we should not take these comments absolutely literally.

We may still get a totally new cast. But I don't see this as confirmation. Wouldn't surprise me if Liam Neeson or Ben Barnes came back.

Kind of unhappy about the fact that all characters will be recast, including Eustace. I feel like character continuity is critical when creating a franchise of movies. I feel so strongly about it, that I think that the filming of future books needs to be centered around Will Poulters aging, in an effort to keep character continuity. If I was in charge of the films, I would:

1. Keep Will Poulter and film Silver Chair. After all, if 20-something William Moseley played Peter in Prince Caspian, I don't see why Silver Chair should be a problem.

2. Film Last Battle next. As young as Will Poulter looks for his age, he is not getting any younger. The franchise can be bought to its chronological conclusion since prequels tend to be popular anyhow.

3. Film Magicians Nephew third. Tilda Swinton is also aging, although this is not as big of an issue as Will Poulter was. Nearly all of the characters from this book will appear in this film only, so character continuity isn't as complicated. Jadis will grow younger and more powerful after eating the apple as time progresses, so that can easily be emphasized.

4. Film Horse and His Boy last. This film will feature the Pevensies as adults, as well as a much older Tumnus. This will work perfectly, as the original actors from Lion, Witch and Wardrobe are sufficiently aged to play their parts. Shasta & Aravis make no other significant appearances in any of the other books.

In reality, 3. and 4. can be interchanged, but 1. and 2. are the most urgent.

Have to admit I disagree with the idea of bringing Will Poulter back. It isn't only about whether he still looks young facially, it's also the fact that he's so tall. In SC Eustace and Jill are being bullied by older and presumably stronger kids (Eustace mentions keeping the secret about the rabbit under torture; I'd be surprised if that consisted only of name-calling). Will Poulter is now over six feet tall and unless they cast even taller actors as the bullies, it's not very credible that they could bully him physically, when he could easily smash their faces in. To keep a continuity of cast they should have filmed all the movies back to back as they did with Harry Potter (ten years to make eight films covering a period of seven years), meaning the final Narnia film would have come out last year, instead of all this stop-start-stop-start.

I confess to feeling very hopeful about new cast and a new whatever-it-is. I find myself dreaming about how places and characters could look. Before I confined myself to the style of the already made movies. Then, the other day, it clicked! anything is possible now! That could be good or bad, but the freedom to re-imagine and start fresh leaves me feeling quite positive.
Jadis could eventually have black hair!
We could see a dark-haired Eustace, or a blond Lucy!
And what about a blond Caspian?

I'm not sure what to think of this news. I'm a bit distrustful of the article itself because it starts by citing a fake news story as fact (that Magee tweeted about the script). I can deal with different actors playing characters. Caspian and Trumpkin are both old in SC so it might be easier to recast than to make the actors look older. At first I forgot the end with the young Caspian - it will be disappointing with out Ben at the end. If Aslan looks the same, I can handle a new voice.

1. Keep Will Poulter and film Silver Chair. After all, if 20-something William Moseley played Peter in Prince Caspian, I don't see why Silver Chair should be a problem.

PC was released in 2008 just after William's 21st birthday. I guess he would have been around 19 when they were filming. LWW was released when William was 18 so he would have been around 16/17 when they were filming, if my math and guesses are correct. In the book timelines LWW and PC are about a year apart. That's only about 3 years change. William didn't change much in voice or appearance between the films. Will Poulter did. VDT just barely got filmed before Will started growing. There is no way he could play less than year later than VDT. Will just turned 23 today. They aren't anywhere near ready to start filming. We aren't talking a couple of years in between filming - it will be closer to 10 years. That is too big of a difference to pretend that VDT and SC took place within a year or 2 of each other.

This may be the biggest valid point to recasting Eustace.. the fact that Last Battle is still years away from filming. I still think that all other actors definitely should return. You are correct that it will be easier to get away with recasting Aslan if his CGI character still looks the same. The average viewer probably didn't recognize Reepicheep being recast from PC to VDT.

I still think it may not be a bad idea to film Silver Chair and Last Battle consecutively even if they recast Eustace. It prevents the producers from having to revisit the aging issue with Eustace and Jill again.