Oh my, i wonder if this has anything to do with the possibility of the Lady of the Green Kirtle being in VotDT. I am still not worried. I wonder what he could mean though.

Hmmm... very interesting.....

Its not surprising to hear him say they have added an overarching "through line" to the story, to "sew it all together", as that is something which is probably necessary, and something we had all pretty much assumed they would do anyway

However, the fact that he says they have taken elements from later books to acheive that aim does worry me. From the production photos so far, i had assumed that they would be taking the Lone Islands slavery subplot as the linking element between all the "episodes" to bind them together, but perhaps that is not the case now.

I guess most people are going to see "later books" and automatically recall straight to the leaked script and its LOTGK abominations. Whilst certain elements of that script may remain, it is important to note once again, that not only did the production officially disown that script, but Steven Knight is also no longer a credited scriptwriter, Trumpkin and Cornelius are no longer in the movie, and a whole other bunch of things that were in that script have already been cancelled out by many of the things we've seen so far on set.

As for other elements from later books which he could also be refering to, the only major one that springs to mind is the Calormen. The idea of a Calormen invasion threatening Narnia is present in both HHB and LB, so that might explain his use of plurals on "couple of ideas" and "later books".

The "clever and unobtrusive way" part does at least sound a little reassuirng at the end there. I dont doubt the need for the addition of a linking plot line, and if they have done it in a "clever and unobtrusive way" then that is something to be very pleased about.

I think I will not speculate on what may have been borrowed from other stories. As long as it isn't something major that would take away from a future film's main story elements.

I think I will just sit back and watch the coming speculation(s) as to what young Mr. Ben Barnes may have beeen referring to.

well, LOTGK is exactly what first occurred to me when i read this. its true that Knight is no longer part of the writing credits, but its not unusual to have a previous writer/s ideas still make their way into the new permutation of the screenplay. if anything, it happens a lot of times (best example: "Mr and Mrs Smith" is credited to Simon Kinberg, truth of the matter is, at least 50% of the story that made it to the movie was based on the original scriptment written by Kieran and Michele Mulroney).

it would also explain Tamsin Egerton being spotted on the VDT set. whatever is going on (or not) between her and Barnes doesnt ignore the fact that she was in a closed set in the middle of a working day. as i said before, either Apted runs a ridiculously loose set or she has business in Narnia. also, its reported that she stayed in Australia for 2 weeks. i know its a lot of wild guesses, but 2 weeks is roughly a good amount of time to audition for a role and/ or shoot a small/pivotal role. of course its also a good amount of time to work on her tan . Egerton's presence in Oz was a conundrum. i know that she was supposed to be working on the St Trinian's sequel in London with (Barne's Dorian Gray director) Oliver Parker. if she was set to do that, what the heck is she doing halfway around the world away from London for 2 weeks? and then shows up on the Narnia set of all places! its also curious to note that it was also around the same time that Oliver Parker was away from the St Trinians2 set to do promotional duties for Dorian Gray, as did Barnes, who had to take time off from the VDT shoot, freeing VDT core staff to pay attention to something or someone else?

as i've said, its a lot of speculation at this point. the Egerton sighting could be a whole lot of nothing. but what isnt nothing is Barnes little bits of Narnia info that has almost all come true.

The fact that they are taking from other books worries me. I am not good with taking scenes from Chronicles of Narnia books. It means that there could turn out to be a scene like in the deleted scenes for Prince Caspian,where the dryad dies. Besides the fact I am a Narnia Purist, it also I think means that they think they can't find enough in one of the books so they have to take from the books of this series. There is so much in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But I am okay if they take ideas from the other books in the series if it's like just trying to keep the characters the same. (As in taking from HHB to know Susan doesn't fight). Other than that no.

It would be great to just stick to the book, but this is probably a long shot! I hope they dont change too much or it will just take away from the real meaning of the book!

Oh, I can answer the Egerton question because it came out in the tabloids... She and Barnes are nothing more than good friends, and she was visiting him on the set of VDT just for fun. She has absolutely nothing to do with the movie.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1214710/Its-fantasy-romance-Tamsin-Egerton-King-Caspian.html

And we also had it confirmed that the LotGK had been cut from the script, though I admit that's what my mind jumped to immediately as well.

However, I REALLY like icarus's suggestion with the Calormen. That would make a whole lotta sense.

I'm really beginning to wish Ben would stop giving interviews.

I'm really beginning to wish Ben would stop giving interviews.

on the contrary i hope nothing will persuade him to keep his trap shut . Ben is one of those honest chaps (at least at this stage of his career) that will speak freely about the reality of showbiz. i value folks who are brave and forthcoming enough to call things as they really are, specially in that industry. and such qualities usually reveal little bits like these, where we wont always agree with, but at least was honest about the real reasons behind such decisions, instead of the usual suspects always trying to hoodwink the audience.

Oh, I can answer the Egerton question because it came out in the tabloids... She and Barnes are nothing more than good friends, and she was visiting him on the set of VDT just for fun. She has absolutely nothing to do with the movie.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1214710/Its-fantasy-romance-Tamsin-Egerton-King-Caspian.html

And we also had it confirmed that the LotGK had been cut from the script, though I admit that's what my mind jumped to immediately as well.

However, I REALLY like icarus's suggestion with the Calormen. That would make a whole lotta sense.

i also hope they could figure out a way to introduce the Calormen, because i dont know how else they could bring in THAHB into the current continuity of this movie franchise without them. talking animals can only do so much.

i read that Egerton-Barnes article too FK, whatever the truth may be, its their business. but it doesnt erase the fact that Egerton was in Oz for 2 weeks when she should be in London prepping/ shooting for St Trinians2. even if she is just buddies with Barnes, traveling halfway round the world is quite a length just for a simple visit (hence sparking rumors that the friendship is otherwise). my POV is that she's there on more that just R&R, specially when she's supposed to be in the middle of/ just about to start work in her own sequel.

*Breathes deeply, calming down from initial reaction. Returning to sane and reasonable state*
Okay. Ideas from other books. I'm going to try to look at this as optimistically as possible. The Calormen idea the others have suggested really wouldn't bother me much, actually... so that's positive. I suppose there could be other ideas I haven't heard of which wouldn't kill me either. Also, it's been officially confirmed that the LOTGK is not in VDT, so I'm happy there too. All in all... I can't really say I'm upset about this, until I have something tangible to survey. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I'm tempted to trust Ben's comment about it being clever and unobtrusive. I've never had reason to distrust him before. So for the moment, I'll remain happy and put on a good face in anticipation of this film.

New idea, many have thought that slavery would be what tied the storyline together. That could still be true. The Calormens had slaves, and Governor Gumpas says that they sell their slaves mostly to the Calormens. Which would tie in with Horse and His Boy and Last Battle.

I like the Calormen idea too. And it might actually be an extremely good thing, as it means that the moviemakers might not be as hesitant to do HHB and LB since the villains (so to speak) are already set up.

So if the Calormenes are the over-reaching arch, how could that be involved in the "unfathomable fate"? Maybe one of the Telmarines Lords has links to Calormen, an ambassador of sorts, who had information about Calormen that the Narnians desperately need (though what could be useful ten years or so out of date...). Or some of the Telmarines left in Narnia are grumbling and Caspian needs to find the Lords in order to placate the people and help convince them to stand with him against the Calormen threat. Or something. And, like others have said, they could weave the Lone Island slave plot in with it, which would explain Gael a bit more.

OK, kinda liking that idea. I can run with it.

*Breathes deeply, calming down from initial reaction. Returning to sane and reasonable state*

Exactly how I felt... except for now I'm still in paranoid fan state. I sure hope whatever they borrowed won't have a negative effect on the other movies. I'm worried that if they borrow too much the other movies will either have a sense of "here we go again" or they will leave something out and / or make changes. (The same worry I have from PC because they had Peter quarreling with Caspian and that was what Edmund is supposed to do in VDT. )
*is now ready to exit paranoid fan state*
At least, they are using Narnia based sources.
I must be really dense or clueless because I don't see why they need something other than an oath and seven missing lords to tie the islands together.

Tying a lot more of Calormen in VdT makes sense, especially since it's a major player in two future movies that hasn't even been hinted at yet. Perhaps there will be a sea battle/skirmish with some angry Calormen traders? I could see that happening.

But, any "borrowing from future books" makes me pretty nervous, especially after that atrocity that was a VdT/SC tie-in in the draft script. Here's hoping that it's nothing too major.