I thought Billie Brown was fine as Coriakin. I thought it was nice not to have the long beard to avoid the cliche of a wizard or magician having long beards. He may have not bee the best Coriakin, but I thought he was just fine.

As for how he should be portrayed in Netflix, it's hard to say. Probably one I could think of to portray him is Sylvester McCoy, who had previously played Radagast in The Hobbit Trilogy. And this would not be the first project he did with Narnia. He voiced Reepicheep in the BBC Radio 4 Theatre of Narnia.

I feel that Coriakin should be genuinely friendly and down to earth, but with an undercurrent of impatience. Aslan didn’t punish him for nothing after all. 

I don't know if anyone here has watched Arcane, but a parallel I can think of is a character called Heimerdinger the Mage.  Very wise but with a playful, trickster side. And also not afraid to put his foot down when necessary. 

@mickey I love your ideas and comments.

I didn't like several things about that characterisation, including his being rather stout. Wizards ought to be tall and thin, but why? -  I don't really know, it just seems right!
Coriakin is logical but a little bit playful.
The film script and direction didn't really seem to understand the book.

I agree, Coracle. A thin Magician is the way to go- perhaps an extremely thin, hook nosed actor would look right for the role. One with somewhat unnerving eyes. 

As for the character himself, I think a slightly creepy/otherwordly appearance belied by a kindly/mischievous personality would work. Coriakin is built up as a scary all-powerful conjurer of oppression  by the Duffers, so I feel like it should really be his behavior that breaks Lucy's previous misconceptions of him. 

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

an extremely thin, hook nosed actor would look right for the role. One with somewhat unnerving eyes. 

Is your avatar an example?  Or maybe that would be more the look for Lord Rhoop?

Actually, a possible actor is Peter Capaldi, who has a long narrow face and very Roman nose (hook can be added by makeup), AND very expressive eyes. I'd love to see him play Coriakin, because he can also give the sense of hidden depths and knowledge. These are necessary for both the former stars on islands in VDT.

@mickey 

The BBC Coriakin was an old and experienced magician, which was as he should be portrayed. There was no reference to the mistake he made when he was a star (it also wasn’t in the movie), but I think it would have helped to at least mention that he made it since it was in the book.  I think the BBC got his character mostly right since he became better and more patient when ruling the Dufflepuds. And they included both Ramandu and his daughter, which was better than having no Ramandu (omitting him in the movie was a mistake).  On the whole the BBC a fairly good job with Dawn Treader, although I wish their version was longer instead of combining it with Prince Caspian. Three hours would have been better than two for a longer adaptation of the story. 

You kind of hope that one of your favorite characters are done right. That's I how I feel about Coriakin, being one of my favorite characters in the series.

I was sad that Walden cut out Ramandu in the movie. Hopefully Netflix can keep him in. Of course, they've cut out Bacchus and Silenus and even the nurse in Prince Caspian. It would be like cutting out Governor Gumpas and have Pug running the Lone Islands, which I don't want, or cutting out Ahoshta and let Anradin be the one that Aravis will have to be marry to in The Horse and His Boy, which I don't want either, or even cutting out Ginger in and have Rishda be the one running things when Shift loses control over Narnia and Emeth be the first to volunteer to go into the stable in The Last Battle, which I don't want either.

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see how Netflix will portray Coriakin.

Posted by: @mickey

I envision him as the archetypal trickster mentor, along the lines of Dumbledore, Yoda, Socrates, or Zen sages.

I like the idea of him being a sort of Confucius-esque Zen Master. Something along the lines of Pat Morita's portrayal of Mr Miyagi in the Karate Kid. Playful yet strict. Mischievous yet serious.

It could be a good way to avoid leaning into the over-played "Wise old Wizard" cliches... though just as long as it didn't then lean too heavily into the "wise old Asian master" cliches.

Posted by: @icarus

I like the idea of him being a sort of Confucius-esque Zen Master. Something along the lines of Pat Morita's portrayal of Mr Miyagi in the Karate Kid. Playful yet strict. Mischievous yet serious.

It could be a good way to avoid leaning into the over-played "Wise old Wizard" cliches... though just as long as it didn't then lean too heavily into the "wise old Asian master" cliches.

Exactly, and IMO, one key trait of Coriakin is that he has "soft power", that he can be firm on his decisions without being stern or aggressive (something that was not shown by either Brown or Lockwood). I. e. he is compassionate, doesn't force the Duffers to do his bidding, is not offended when they insult him, and allows them a lot of freedom, including even casting spells from his book, but once he decided to change them into Monopods, he would never reverse his decision. I can imagine a scene with the Chief angrily demanding or even trying to outright threaten Coriakin into changing them back, and Coriakin laughing it off or replying wtih something cryptic.

I believe that for this reason he is beyond the comprehension of the Dufflepuds, who have a black-and-white picture of the world. IMO, at first they thought of Coriakin as someone harmless, a "crazy old hermit whom we can just ignore", and after the transformation, they put him into the "tyrant" category, because they are unable to imagine anything beyond these two extremes.