Also, first comment in 5 years!!!

Hello, aragorn2, and welcome back!
Hope you are back to stay?

Puddleglum32, the Hispanic accents were an unfortunate mixture of accents, making it unrealistic - if they were all from the same stock, why did they speak differently?

Puddleglum32, the Hispanic accents were an unfortunate mixture of accents, making it unrealistic - if they were all from the same stock, why did they speak differently?

No problem! Sounds like Australia. Or worse, UK. Professor 'Enery 'Iggins well might sing "Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?" It is a wonder that the lyrics of that song never even mention what in Victorian times were called "The Antipodes"

Thank you, Coracle! We'll see

Honestly, if a mishmash of Mediterranean accents was the price we had to pay to get the fantastic trio of Sergio Castellitto, Pierfrancesco Favino and Damian Alcazar, I think it was well worth it.

Every scene with any of those guys is just fantastic.

They were certainly wonderful performers.

I'm actually kind of glad they got rid of the whole accent thing for VDT. I'm not sure what I would think of Ben Barnes talking with a Spanish accent for the whole thing.
Would an Eastern kind of accent work for Jadis, BTW?

Accents in the new Narnia series: I’m not interested in the typical English movie accents for the Narnian characters, and not even for the kids. I’m genuinely open to all sorts of UK dialects so long as they fit the characters (Ex.: In LotR, Pippin is Scottish sounding, which makes little sense for Hobbits but works wonderfully for his character ).

Just for The Magician’s Nephew, the Accents should reflect where the characters came from:
Digory is a well-off country boy who moved to London. Polly is a typical middle-class London girl. Uncle Andrew is of unknown English lineage, probably well educated. Jadis is of unknownable royal non-English lineage with streaks of cruelty, and happens to speak English. Aslan is Himself, yet he’s surrounded by all kinds of animals, many of them from Africa and Asia.

I hope the new filmmakers get creative!!!

I'm actually kind of glad they got rid of the whole accent thing for VDT. I'm not sure what I would think of Ben Barnes talking with a Spanish accent for the whole thing.
Would an Eastern kind of accent work for Jadis, BTW?

Actually they didn't quite. In VDT the film crew were working mainly on Australia/New Zealand sets & locations, where even any Aussie extras they used surely knew enough not to sound too idiomatically Australian. The Dawn Treader, itself, partially dismantled, was housed in a warehouse at Movie World at Coomera on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.

Speaking of Australians, there was one, Cate Blanchette, who spoke in this terrible voice for some depictions of Galadriel. Something like that for Jadis might scare the audience to its wits though. I doubt that an Eastern accent would be appropriate.

I actually haven't really thought about this. It is something to think about, that's for sure.

I agree with @coracle about Sergio Castellitto, Pierfrancesco Favino and Damian Alcazar were wonderful performers in Walden's PC. I would like to see those three in future Narnia adaptations (which that can be a discussion in another thread).

As for accents in the new series, I would like to hear a variety. The children from Earth would certainly have English accents. A variety of accents in the world of Narnia would be nice to hear.

Even Archenlanders could sound different than Narnians, perhaps Welsh or Irish. I wouldn't expect Telmarines to use a Spanish accent, though. Maybe a Norse accent. I almost envision Calormenes with a Russian accent, though that almost sounds too cheesy.

The BBC Radio 4 and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre used English voice actors for all of the characters. However, the same doesn't necessarily have to apply for a movie or series. A variety would also show that there are different nationalities and cultures, like there is in our world.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Speaking of Australians, there was one, Cate Blanchette, who spoke in this terrible voice for some depictions of Galadriel.

I think that someone Cate Blanchettish would work very well for Jadis. Jadis was, in my mind, an evil version of Galadriel.

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

I'm not sure what I would think of Ben Barnes talking with a Spanish accent for the whole thing

I suppose some of the Telemarine names sounded a little like Southern European names, but I don't understand how Caspian could lose his accent in 3 years. Were the accents Spanish, Italian, or something else? I'm not super familiar with the distinctions of Southern Europe's accents.

Posted by: @col-klink

Of course, giving the Calormenes a specific accent runs the risk of offending people. It might seem like they're demonizing whatever nationality speaks with whatever accent is closest to it. I feel that creating various accents for the different kinds of characters would be a good idea though. It would show that the crew put thought and effort into creating the world of Narnia.

I agree with what you saying about the Calormenes. Yes they have already been criticized for bearing a suspicious resemblance to Islam and having dark skin thus demonizing both of those things and adding an accent would just add a whole other layer to the already big controversy they have. I say English accents would be the safest option but giving different characters different accents would certainly diverse the Narnian world a lot! But like I said, we would have to be careful with our accent choices to avoid any controversy. 

@queencrunchytheweeb 

The racism about Calormenes would only continue if they were given a Middle-Eastern accent. That's kind of why I kind of thought of a Russian accent (it would have dark features yet not the Arabian stereotype). On second thought though, it's going to be a challenge how they would do Calormenes, regardless of what accent they're given, without offending anyone.

As far as accents goes, I think the door is still wide open. English accent is still an option. There are different variety of English accents (like Cockney, for example). I think the door is still wide open for what kind of accents would be given in the new series.

For the Calormenes — at least the aristocratic ones like the Tisroc, Rabadash, Lasaraleen, Ahoshta, Anradin and Rishda — I would actually suggest a form of extreme RP English, the sort that used to be used by British royalty and the upper classes (and BBC newsreaders!). You know, that stereotypical frightfully posh accent that makes one sound swaggeringly arrogant and pompous to the point of absurdity, which is pretty much how most of the upper class Calormenes (the not-very-nice ones, that is) come across in the books. The useful thing about that kind of accent is that it can't attract any accusations of racism — because it has always been an accent of class, not of region or ethnicity — and, even more usefully, virtually no-one in real life actually speaks like that any more. Even the late Queen, who had that accent as a young woman, toned it down a good deal in her later years!

(There are exceptions, of course. Only about 10 years ago, I was at London Victoria Station when a quite young businessman came through the barrier gates loudly declaring into his phone: "Ay'm oenly goeing from hyah to Cleppem Junction." That is, in ordinary English, "I'm only going from here to Clapham Junction." )

@azog-the-defiler For VDT Ben wanted to keep the Mediterranean accent he had learned for PC, but the director or producers decided to lose it.

I think it is more realistic to have a correct accent, but I don’t think that it something worth raising a fuss about. I have seen movies in which an American accent was spoken when a British one should have been used, e.g. W. C. Fields as Mr. Micawber in the 1935 David Copperfield. The acting was really good, but his accent is a little artificial for the character.  There are Greek gods with American accents in The Odyssey, which was a TV miniseries made during the 1990’s. It makes the movie or TV series seem a little artificial, but I don’t think it is offensive.  And in Prince Caspian Ben Barnes was much too old for the role, which is more noticeable than his different accent in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  There are worse flaws than having a wrong accent in a film.

I actually recalled Ben Barnes wanting to keep his Spanish accent yet Michael Adpted was not impressed with it. I kind of wish the directors and producers don't have to make that kind of decision. I guess it shows that Michael Adpted wasn't the right director for VDT so much.

I'm actually not too worried about what accents the Calormenes would be given in the films or series. There is that concern it would be hard to portray them without anyone being offended. Even if they went with English accents for some reason, they should sound different than Narnians. Calormenes should be different than Narnians in culture as well. Even with English accents, they should sound different. So I'm too worried about what accents the Calormenes would be given.