@coracle Me either. I really can't get into it, and Idk if that's because he speaks slowly sometimes, almost too much so. Sometimes it's so slow and annunciated it actually reminds me of Snape, which I don't think anyone wants for Aslan lol. I really liked a lot of the other casting for those radio dramas, but not his. I think Liam Neeson will always be Aslan's voice to me. 🙂 But I'm glad for those who enjoy Suchet's version and it feels like he and everyone else really enjoyed it and put their all into doing it. 

I still think Timothy Dalton would be perfect...

@rilianix OK, I'm pretty sold on him!

While I agree he fits the part though, I do wonder if he sounds too similar to Liam Neeson for Netflix to be willing to use him...

I see your point @the-mad-poet-himself, but I don't think it matters too much. I think Dalton's voice is distinctive enough to separate it from Neeson's performance, but more importantly, Dalton voice is just too perfect to pass up. He has such depth and gravel and grit to his voice that you wouldn't even remotely be surprised by the idea of that voice beaming from the King of the Beasts.

@rilianix it's a beautiful voice for the warmth and deep purr. How does he sound for shouting and roaring?

@coracle I'm sure he has it in him 🙂

I've got to agree, he does sound like the right kind of voice! I can see how in ways he sounds somewhat like Liam Neeson's portrayal, but I'm sure he could vary it enough!

I can't think of anybody else specifically for the moment; however I know that there are plenty of older British actors that could contend for this.

I really like Timothy Dalton's voice (he's also probably my favourite of the James Bonds for what its worth) though I think I would still like to see them add a lot of extra bass in post-production if they went with someone like him. Similar to Liam Neeson's voice in that regard - as good as it was on its own, his voice just didn't have enough bass or growl on film to really sound like it was emanating from a Lion of that size. A little bit of digital tinkering will easily fix that for whoever they choose though.

In terms of an actor who does have a tad more bass to his natural voice, I also really like Jim Carter from Downton Abbey, Wonka, and a whole bunch of other stuff. He's not quite Brian Blessed levels of bass, but he's got such a rich, deep, soothing voice. I still think I'd want to do some sound-mixing on him in post-production, but he has a good starting voice to work from.

@icarus I've quite enjoyed Jim Carter's performance in a number of BBC productions! He does have a good bass, but I'd have to agree that it needs some electronic assistance to sound like Aslan. 

I believe I've suggested Iain Glen before, but I'd also add Richard Armitage to my list..

Posted by: @sir-cabbage

I can't think of anybody else specifically for the moment; however I know that there are plenty of older British actors that could contend for this.

The trick will be to cast an actor who can keep playing this role for a number of years! It could be 10-15 years of filming, if Netflix gets into it quickly.

I can't remember if anyone else has suggested him yet, but Ben Kingsley is another veteran British actor who might be able to do it — he played the voice of Bagheera the panther in Disney's 2016 remake of The Jungle Book, so he does have experience in playing a wisdom-dispensing big cat!   It's quite a different role though, and a bit more comical than Aslan ever is, so that doesn't necessarily mean he'd be the best choice.

Whoever they choose, I agree with @icarus that there'll need to be some post-production work done on the voice, which I don't think there was for Liam Neeson, or at least not to any noticeable extent — no matter how expressive his voice was, he just sounded far too human. 

I think talented actors of that calibre, like Dalton and Kingsley, would be able to do their own "post-production" in terms of manipulating their own voices to fit with the King of the Beasts, given their experience and again their talent.

Posted by: @coracle

I wonder if Doug Gresham has ever been asked to consider voicing Aslan himself, with his rich voice.

He has a background in radio work and acting, on top of many other skills and work. 

He does occasionally sound a bit Australian, but that can be managed with several takes. 

 

Just been reading through this thread, so many good suggestions, but I really can't go past this suggestion as IMO it would be by far the best one... would it happen?  I dunno, but I definitely reckon he'd do the best job of the lot, as he really knows the character from his heart, and he has a great range in his voice.

Regarding the Australian accent...hmm...due to his varied living between US, UK and Australia in his younger days, I think it kind of makes his voice a bit hard to pin-point, but what's wrong with the occassional Aussie twinge to his voice.  

I admit I used to always vote for James Earl Jones with this question, but he is far too obvious because of the Mufasa portrayal, and those two characters are distinctly different.

I thought the Chris Hemsworth, Russell Crowe and Sam Neill suggestions quite interesting... and I think each of those guys could do well in the role.

But for me, I vote Doug Gresham!  

@pete since I wrote that post, I learned that Mr Gresham is no longer doing voice work - he's close to 80 - so perhaps we are looking for another actor with his sort of voice. 

Depth, clarity, and warmth. 

I don't have a specific person in mind, only that I think he should sound like a younger man: thirties or forties, or at least a voice that sounds like it. More Aragorn and less Gandalf, if that makes sense.

This is more speculation than suggestion, but...

Greta Gerwig has a track record of working with the same actors multiple times (which, to be frank, is not a terribly long track record, but it's a pattern nonetheless ). I've been wondering if that might happen with Narnia, so an article where Gerwig praised Kingsley Ben-Adir caught my eye. He's a British actor who played one of the Kens in Barbie, and his natural voice is quite deep.

Since Gerwig has been preparing for Narnia for a long time, I think she probably would have had an idea of who she wanted for Aslan before working with Ben-Adir on Barbie, so I don't know... but I wanted to get this on the record in case it ended up being right.