@coracle Agreed.  Pity though, that he doesn't do voice work anymore.

Also, I think I'm agreeing with another view you expressed on here also - not being overly impressed with David Suchet's Aslan in the FotF radio drama's.  Whilst I think he did put in a good effort for the role, for me, he didn't sound lion-ish enough, one thing I did like about his performance though was his vocals were a bit unpredictable - sometimes being really loud or really quiet.  I think it that area he did capture the unpredictability of Aslan - not being safe but being good.

An actor I’ve recently had on my mind especially after watching Guardians of the Galaxy again is how awesome I think Lee Pace would do voicing Aslan. After recollecting some of his other roles like in The Hobbit and Pushing Daisies he always has the right richness in his voice. 

I love some of the other suggestions too and I know Lee Pace isn’t British but I really don’t think he needs to be.

Bumping this up since Magician's Nephew is all but officially confirmed at this point to raise a point thar just occurred to me while reading another thread: An aspect unique to Aslan's performance in MN is the fact that he sings in the story.

There are any number of ways they could approach that in the film, but one obvious way is to actually have the actor sing as at least one element of the song. That could potentially add another layer to the casting discussion - who has a voice that sounds like Aslan and can sing well? An obvious choice, I suppose, would be Hugh Jackman - although, full disclosure, I don't really like his singing voice, and I don't know that I'd care for him as Aslan.

Of course, even if they have Aslan singing in a way that the actor's voice is clear and recognizable, as opposed to more of an instrumental approach, it's a voice-over role, so you could always cast someone who sounds relatively similar to the actor voicing Aslan's speaking voice. 

I guess I never really thought of Aslan singing as being "singing" in the traditional human sense.

Maybe the closest thing I can think of in another film is that scene in 'The Wolf of Wall Street' where Matthew McConaughey starts doing that weird chant whilst pounding on his chest in rhythm. Sort of slowly building up the layers of the chant over time.

Still a million miles away from that, but still more in that direction then a real song... if that makes sense.

@icarus I think I agree, if I understand you correctly, that just having someone's voice singing would seem . . . maybe a bit underwhelming?

That really gets to the heart, though, of adaptation. I've heard two audio versions of Aslan's song dramatized. BBC's Tales of Narnia had Stephen Thorne - who played Aslan - humming or chanting, which could be taken in the way that you're describing. 

On the other end of things FotF's Radio Theatre opted to not have the actor do anything - it was all sound effects and musical instruments, iirc. 

I wouldn't be surprised if they get two voice actors for Aslan, one to do the singing and one to do the speaking. It's pretty common. As long as the actors don't sound jarringly dissimilar, I'm fine with it.

@col-klink I wouldn't be either. I was simply considering out loud the possibility of a voice actor capable of doing both. It would add a new dimension to casting discussions, even if it isn't the only possibility or even the most likely one. 

I think whatever they do with Aslan's creation song, there'll definitely need to be some digital wizardry involved. I've listened to both radio versions of MN, and in many ways I actually preferred the BBC's rendition of the song, simply because it actually sounded like a song. Unfortunately, it also sounded too much like a human voice just running up and down various musical notes, which was the let-down of it. But the Focus on the Family version, to me at least, didn't sound like any kind of singing at all, just vague synthesiser music.   If they can find some happy medium in between those two — use a real singer's voice, but electronically alter and enhance it so that it's still obviously a voice but it doesn't sound so human — that would, hopefully, do it, I think. (As I've said before, I'd also like them to do some kind of alteration to Aslan's speaking voice as well, so that it likewise sounds more like it could be coming from a huge, wild, majestic Lion and not from a guy just trying to sound impressive.) 

@courtenay Agree 100% about the two adaptations. I'm actually very curious to see how Gerwig handles it. 

Looking back through the list of actors suggested so far, and trying to think of actors who feel "on brand" for Greta Gerwig, one name I am maybe surprised hasn't come up more is Adam Driver who co-starred with Greta in both 'Frances Ha' and 'White Noise' (both directed by Noah Baumbach).

Especially given that alot of people on the thread have said they would like to see someone younger than normal in the role (Driver is only 41) and that he has a very naturally deep voice - partly I suspect why they got him for Kylo Ren in the Star Wars Sequels.

They did admittedly use some voice modulation for the scenes where he has his helmet on, however he still has enough of that natural 'James Earl Jones' style depth to his voice to make him a worthy successor to Darth Vader.

Posted by: @icarus

Looking back through the list of actors suggested so far, and trying to think of actors who feel "on brand" for Greta Gerwig, one name I am maybe surprised hasn't come up more is Adam Driver... 

I hadn't heard of him (not being a film buff!), but all I can say is that if he is being considered for Aslan, he'd better be able to do a convincing English accent. James Earl Jones for Mufasa was fantastic, but Aslan, just to be consistent with the whole aesthetic of Narnia, really shouldn't have an even slightly American-sounding accent. 

(Unless, of course, in tribute to the origins of Narnia's author, they decide to give him an Irish accent. ) 

Posted by: @courtenay

(Unless, of course, in tribute to the origins of Narnia's author, they decide to give him an Irish accent. ) 

Like Liam  

Posted by: @glenwit

Like Liam  

True, he is Northern Irish (as was Lewis!), but he didn't actually use that accent when doing Aslan's voice. I've just listened to some clips of him from the movies to make sure I was remembering correctly, and he only very occasionally slips in a sound that you wouldn't expect to hear in a standard middle-to-upper-class London / generic Southern English accent!  

(Really, though, I'm just hanging out for someone to do him with a Welsh accent — I love Welsh accents. And actually, now I think about it, there is nothing in the canon to suggest he couldn't possibly sound like an Aussie... ) 

Liam Neeson’s voice is very good, but I think they should have someone else do Aslan since this is a new series of films made two decades later. There should be a new cast since everything else is going to be new.  The actors from previous films are not likely to return unless it is for minor roles. I doubt if Greta Gerwig would want actors from previous Narnia films for major roles.  I think she would probably want new talent.