Rose, you have an uncanny way of reading my mind sometimes, you know that? ? 

I've thought about the idea of a spinoff, and what would be jumping the shark vs. filling out the Narnia universe and making it feel "lived in".  

My personal fine line is whether it adds background context to events which were already implied but perhaps not a focus of any one canonical story (I'm not sure if they'd be able to come up with 10 without going too far down the rabbit trail).  

That being said, what would be 2 or three that wouldn't be taking things too far?

I think it would be cool to have a spin-off series about Jadis' backstory since she's one of the most iconic literary villains of all time, and the Magician's Nephew left some tantalizing breadcrumb trails to Charn (and having that climactic battle play out onscreen in a spinoff would work better than having it in MN as a flashback, in my opinion.)  They could even make it 2 seasons (one in Charn, one in Narnia during her rise to power before LWW).  

Also, LWW and possibly the Horse and His Boy could set up some sort of original series about the 'Golden Age' (maybe elaborate on the adventures that CS hints on between the coronation and the hunt for the Stag, or maybe even do something more with Peter's whereabouts during HHB, since it sounds like a really interesting adventure that we're told about instead of shown).   (And Rumblebuffin, Tumnus, the Beavers, Bree, Hwin, etc. could all make appearances and we'd get some cool interactions between certain characters that never happened in the books.  Did Mr. Tumnus ever interact with either horse? I don't remember). 

As @Rose said, I wouldn't want there to be too many creative liberties taken with Aslan (maybe leave him out of this for the most part), and finally: The Chronicles of (Insert Random Wood-Between-the-Worlds Pool-World Here) is where I draw the line. Unless it's about the guinea pig. 

Posted by: @glenwit

The Chronicles of (Insert Random Wood-Between-the-Worlds Pool-World Here) is where I draw the line. Unless it's about the guinea pig. 

Holiday Special animated short about the guinea pig's adventures please.

As for some other ideas where I wouldn't instantly dislike the concept:

King Gale slaying the dragon and the Lone Islands becoming part of Narnia. A classic fantasy adventure.

The White Witch conquering Narnia and the resistance efforts (Did all those Narnians in her castle attack at the same time? Were there multiple attempts to defeat her? Was there some black market that sent produce from Archenland? How did all the beavers get stamped out?). Perhaps a fantasy political intrigue?

A series of shorts about Corin's shenanigans. Corin boxing the bear is probably the only boxing episode I would ever be excited about. Fun action/humor.

The Voyage of the Seven Lords, a seafaring adventure!

While we're at it, let's go ahead and use some of the Le Fay Fragment and have a high fantasy prequel to MN.

I've always been really drawn to the early years in Narnia, specifically what it was like for King Frank and Queen Helen and their kids being able to explore a brand new world full of wonders, but also things like the founding of Archenland and Calormen. (According to the timeline, those took place in the late second century and the beginning of the third.) There's obviously a lot of room to play around there because we don't know very much about what happened during those years, but if the right people were behind it and I knew they were drawing inspiration from "Narnian" sources, I think that's something I would be excited about.

Posted by: @glenwit

I think it would be cool to have a spin-off series about Jadis' backstory since she's one of the most iconic literary villains of all time, and the Magician's Nephew left some tantalizing breadcrumb trails to Charn (and having that climactic battle play out onscreen in a spinoff would work better than having it in MN as a flashback, in my opinion.)  They could even make it 2 seasons (one in Charn, one in Narnia during her rise to power before LWW).  

I've actually been thinking recently about how, if they start their films/series with MN and then LWW, the filmmakers will be in a bit of a bind if the character of Jadis is wildly popular — they won't want to let her go. I would much prefer a prequel series about Jadis in Charn and the North of Narnia rather than have her inserted into all of the other Chronicles. That said, I'm not sure I'd be excited about a story about Charn; it might be too much like Game of Thrones without some good guys to root for. But the idea of having Jadis merely describe the fall of Charn in MN and then see it play out in full color in a mini-series later on is definitely intriguing.

Posted by: @dot

Holiday Special animated short about the guinea pig's adventures please.

YES.

Posted by: @dot

The White Witch conquering Narnia and the resistance efforts (Did all those Narnians in her castle attack at the same time? Were there multiple attempts to defeat her? Was there some black market that sent produce from Archenland? How did all the beavers get stamped out?). Perhaps a fantasy political intrigue?

I do think that could be really interesting, given that we know a bit about how that went down, but not a lot of detail on the particulars. I think Reepicheep the Mouse would be especially into the story of how Narnia fell, and how the courtyard became populated with statues: it's nothing but forlorn hopes, death-or-glory charges, and last stands.

Posted by: @dot

While we're at it, let's go ahead and use some of the Le Fay Fragment and have a high fantasy prequel to MN.

I honestly really want to know how the Atlantean box came into Mrs. Le Fay's possession! If somebody wanted to explore the fall of the Atlantean civilization that's described in MN, how the box was rescued from destruction, et cetera... I don't think I would complain. (I find, in general, I'm more at ease with series ideas that take place outside of Narnia... there's less to get wrong. )

Posted by: @rose

I've been asking myself: how would I feel if this were Netflix announcing a bunch of spin-off series about Narnia?

...

For multiple spin-offs to ever happen, Netflix's adaptations of the Chronicles would have to be a tremendous success

This right here. In order for me to even consider watching/supporting a spinoff series, I will have to absolutely love what they do with the original content. 

But here's the thing.... when Walden's LWW came out, it was when the peak of children's books/fantasy movies was happening, and when PC came out, that genre was on the downtrend. Now the hip thing is spinoff series, and while I've noticed the Mandalorian is immensely popular, I feel like spinoff series as a whole are becoming really boring and unimaginative. People are waiting for the next big "thing" and when that hits I think spinoffs will be left behind. 

I actually think this is exactly what Netflix hopes to do with Narnia, once we can get past Covid. 

A random thought about the extermination of the White Witch's army after her defeat gave me a (possibly cheesy) idea for a Narnia spinoff that Netflix could do:

Suppose a group of bounty hunters and adventurers are tasked with tracking down the fugitive members of the Witch's crew and either killing them or bringing them to justice? The series could have a kind of monster-hunter vibe to it, with fun dynamics between the different members of the team as they trek into the Shuddering Woods or Lantern Waste in search of ogres and wraiths and werewolves.

What do you think? Could it work, or would it be a bit corny? What would you add to make it better?

What spinoff ideas do you have?

I don't know that that's terribly far off from the books. Even in HHB, High King Peter didn't show because he was elsewhere taking care of some unruly giants. 
And I don't have the book on me right now, but I feel like this was mentioned in PC? Maybe when Caspian was meeting with Nikabrik and Trumpkin, the werewolf and the hag? Not sure. 

I think my biggest "what happened?" question had to be when the White Witch destroyed the tree planted in MN (or maybe it was someone else?) and she takes over Narnia. 

I just had an idea for a spin-off series. There could be a series about the Earthmen in Underland, and Father Time could be a character. I am not sure exactly how it would work. I don't want an origin story for LotG - the mystery and unknown is best for that character. However I think it would be interesting to show the story of her enslaving the Earthmen (is that their name? - I don't recall - please correct me). Maybe the writers would write that she enslaved them after Rillian's enchantment, or perhaps during her visits to the fields in Narnia during the start of the enchantment. Then Rillian could be a character in this story too. There could be resistance from the Earthmen - and their desire for the deep lava world could be explored - a bit like Reepicheep's desire for Aslan's Country. Maybe some Narnians including Marshwiggles would be caught up in the drama.

Though I would ask you Narniaweb Mods, Junkies and Nuts - how do you feel about this idea? I wondered if some would think the events are too close in time to SC. Is it too many new concepts created by the writers, for you?

(I love that this thread has been active this week as well as December.)

I personally am okay for Netflix or almost other studio/company making new stories of Narnia that C. S. Lewis did not write. That said, a Netflix series of all the Narnia books I am totally for! 

I mean the obvious answer to me is to create stories in the world of Narnia that don't involve humans. I think the best idea would be to try and fill some of the gaps, especially with Caspian. Considering we only meet him three times over many years, it might be interesting to try and see what he got up to in between so its even more of an emotional punch when he eventually does die in The Silver Chair.

I'm of two minds about this. About a decade ago, I would have been very much against the idea of new Narnia stories, but I'm a little more open to it now. Part of the reason for the change is selfish - I just want new Narnia stuff to experience and talk about! Of course, new adaptations would also scratch that itch, but the idea of brand new Narnia stories is more enticing to me now that I've read the books a zillion times and, though I continue to find new depth and meaning in them, they don't surprise me in terms of plot or details any more.

On the other hand, the old hesitation to see new Narnia stories told by people other than Lewis remains. And to be honest, this instinct is probably better for the legacy of Narnia.

All that aside, if spin offs were happening, what would I want to see... hmm. As others have mentioned, I would like to see some of the timeline events expanded upon. I think I would prefer the events that are mostly separate from the events of the books and wouldn't necessarily serve as prequels. That would strike me as being more faithful to the spirit of the books because the books themselves were mostly separate stories within the same world.

@dot mentioned the story of King Gale and there's also the stories of Queen Swanwhite, Moonwood the Hare, and Olvin and Pire. I think the basic ideas of these stories that Lewis gave us could be expanded into stories that feel like classic fairy tales.

Another reason why I'm more hesitant about prequels is that they tend towards more sobering endings. A story between LWW and PC about the Telmarine invasion ends with large amounts of Narnians being killed and the rest driven into the woods. The origin of the White Witch ends with her becoming a villain. These are great backdrops for the stories Lewis wrote and makes the world of Narnia feel more dangerous and unpredictable, but I don't know if I would want them to be brought into focus. I've always thought the PC movie went too dark and would have stolen LB's thunder if it had ever gotten made. Narnia should be a fairly innocent place where evil is always defeated in the end until we get to LB (of course evil is still ultimately defeated there, but the events that happen in the book make you question that the first time you read it).

There is one prequel I'd like to see though - just because I'm me. 😛 I've always wanted to see a solo Reepicheep adventure, either a prequel to PC about how he became a knight or a quest in between PC and VDT. Come to think of it, even outside of the Reepicheep idea, I'd like to see a Narnia story without a human protagonist.

Posted by: @rose

For multiple spin-offs to ever happen, Netflix's adaptations of the Chronicles would have to be a tremendous success; the reason we're seeing this kind of content creation for Star Wars and Marvel is because those worlds and characters are wildly popular.

Fun fact: only two Netflix Original TV Series have ever made it to 7 seasons or more without getting cancelled ("Orange is the New Black" and "The Ranch").

https://screenrant.com/longest-running-netflix-originals-ranked/

Perhaps that is indicative of the relatively young age of the platform, but I think it also reflects the fact that Netflix can be quite ruthless when it comes to axing shows which aren't quite hitting the right viewing figures.

Either way, I think Narnia would be very fortunate to make it all the way to Book 7, nevermind to start doing spin-offs.... Though of course it's always fun to imagine about what might be either way.

I think though when I look at some of the other expanded multimedia franchises in modern culture (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, etc.) I feel that the spin-offs which usually work the best are ones in which they simply use the general theme and setting of the universe as the backdrop but then let the storyteller have complete freedom to tell a new and original story within that universe. (e.g. the Mandalorian spinoff TV series in Star Wars)

By contrast, I think the worst examples of spin-offs are usually where the storyteller is boxed into a strict timeline and that the new story only exists to explain how it relates to other stories or fill in gaps in the overall story (e.g. the Han Solo spin-off moive in Star Wars)

I think there could be spin-off movies about King Gale, Queen Swanwhite, and Moonwood the Hare, because Jewel talks about them in The Last Battle. There could be opportunity to see them on screen.

What if there was Calormen spin-off series, that explores on the history of Calormen?

Outlaws from Archenland settle in Calormen, and Calormen is establish. Maybe it could even explain how Tarkaan and Tarkheena got to be the title of nobility.

I would only be willing to give spin offs a chance if they had already done all 7 books. At present that doesn't seem too likely.

Assuming it happens though, what I would quite like to see is something of the Pevensies and other Friends of Narnia in this world. The chronology is a bit fuzzy but there does seem to have been a significant gap between SC and LB that they could fill in. Obvious questions they could deal with is how the Friends actually got together and how Susan fell away. Did she leave the group or did it start after her apostasy? I for one don't believe Peter, Edmund and Lucy spent all their time reminiscing about Narnia so they could show something of their lives here. To maintain the fantasy element and stop it being just a social drama maybe they could have the Friends of Narnia come up against evil magic in this world.