Firstly, i think if they did change their minds on this one, there would probably be a couple of different interpretations from the fanbase, regardless of what the "official" reason given was:

• Some fans would take it as a validation that all of the campaigning and petitioning worked and that Netflix are changing course as a result of their actions and influence.

• Some fans will take it as a validation that there was nothing to worry about in the first place, and that we all just need to continue to trust the creative process and allow it to play-out free from interference.

• Some fans will assume that this whole episode has just been an insanely clever marketing stunt from Netflix to give us all a glimpse of the "worst case scenario" and make any subsequent changes they actually make seem less extreme by comparison.

I imagine for a lot of people it wont actually matter what Netflix themselves offer as the reason (if they even comment at all) so I think variations on those viewpoints will become pretty entrenched in the community regardless.

As for how that then impacts the way the fans respond, I guess it will be more-or-less along the divisions you suggested - some fans will just breathe a sigh of relief and get on with things, some will perhaps cautiously dip their toe back in the water again without ever really trusting the filmmakers again, and some will still be so burnt by the idea that they are never getting back on board at all.

I guess all we can do is wait and see how things play out.

I feel like I would have some mixed feelings — mostly relief, but also if they were willing to do that in the first place, can I trust them now?, etc — but by and large I would just be so grateful that yes, I would definitely go see it. Everything else has sounded so encouraging that I think if this one thing were confirmed to not be a problem, I’d ultimately be right back on board. I’ve been cautiously supportive of this project for years and I desperately want to see it through, and especially if they sincerely listened to concerns, I would want to show my support and thanks by giving back.

This is a really good question @col-klink. The fact that it even entered the filmmakers mind to change Aslan to a female role has removed all my belief that they understand the source material Lewis wrote, and especially the inspiration behind it. They may THINK they do, but so did the Walden filmmakers and my big across-the-board criticism for all the films was no one fully understood Aslan. ("The hope you have brought, your majesties...." "Someday I hope I can earn the right to see [Aslan's Country]." [Note: Quotes are from memory and may not be exact.])

I don't believe for a minute that the choice to make Aslan have a female actress has anything to do with the old Greek acting world where there was one performer who swapped out masks of every character, no matter what it was. No, this strikes me far more as a personal world view choice. And sadly I don't think Narnia has a big enough fan base for the powers that be to listen to our outcry and backlash. I haven't heard any rumblings whatsoever that it's had any effect, though maybe it just hasn't been public. 

No matter what happens from here on out, whether they change Aslan back to male or not, I have fallen firmly into the wait-and-see-the-reviews camp before I make a decision to support the film. 

Posted by: @col-klink

If they really wanted to portray Aslan as a lioness and they didn't do so because of people like me, well, I feel I owe them. 

To steal your quote here and apply it to myself, they owe me nothing, I owe them nothing. It's their project and they can do whatever they want. But imho opinion, Lewis is owed an adaptation that honors his beliefs. If they can't do that, they shouldn't call their project "Narnia."

Posted by: @fantasia

The fact that it even entered the filmmakers mind to change Aslan to a female role has removed all my belief that they understand the source material Lewis wrote, and especially the inspiration behind it.

Hey @fantasia! Quick question: Do we know for sure that changing Aslan to a female role entered the filmmakers' minds? I've read a bunch of articles about the Meryl Streep rumors, but I don't think I've seen anything that confirms the filmmakers are truly considering this option? I figured it was still just considered a rumor at this point — not a fact (we'll find out eventually, haha!). I wish we'd hear something from Netflix, Greta Gerwig, or the production team. As far as I know, they haven't addressed this rumor yet. I don't know how to interpret their lack of response. I'd say that all of the articles about the Meryl Streep rumor and all of the feedback social media users have been sharing would make the production team want to clear the air.

Good idea for a new discussion and I’m enjoying reading people’s thoughts on it.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m already determined to watch the film at least once, even if it does feature a female Aslan (or other changes I don’t like, but that particular change has to be one of the worst possible), just so that at least I know what I’m critiquing. But yeah, how would I feel if it turned out they were going to make Aslan female and then back-pedalled?

I’d certainly say that was a hugely sensible decision and it would go to show there IS a point in fans making their views and objections known. But I’d also be left thinking: well, the fact that Greta Gerwig and Netflix were willing to listen to their audience and scrap such a terrible idea — that’s encouraging. But on the other hand, the fact that they even thought of making such a change in the first place shows that they REALLY don’t have a good understanding of what Narnia is about on a deeper level. (Or if they do, they don’t like what the author intended it to mean and are determined to subvert it into what they want it to be.)

So even if Aslan ends up being portrayed as male, can we now really trust this director and this production company to make a good and faithful adaptation? But of course, the only way to answer that question is to watch the movie for myself, so that is still what I’ll be doing!

And then on top of that, going by what we’ve seen so far, it seems pretty likely that however they end up portraying Aslan, we won’t be told any of the behind-the-scenes process. If Aslan does turn out to be a male Lion as per the books, we probably won’t actually know whether the Meryl Streep / female Aslan rumour was going to happen but they scrapped it due to the backlash from fans, or whether it was (as I’ve suggested before and @icarus also has above) all nothing more than a huge publicity stunt and they were never really intending to make Aslan female at all.

That’s the really strange and unsettling part of this whole controversy, to me. The director and the production company apparently just won’t come out and say where they stand and what they’re doing, and so that leaves us fans with no idea of what we’re going to get and whether the people making it understand the books or care about their audience.

As I’ve said repeatedly, whichever way they end up going with the film, they are stunningly bad at PR.  

Posted by: @silverchair

Quick question: Do we know for sure that changing Aslan to a female role entered the filmmakers' minds?

No, but when false rumors come out, Netflix has been quick to confirm they're not true. This has had radio silence. Take that as you will. 

I'm in agreement with fantasia on the wait and see camp. The lack of comment and the fact this came out in the first place shows how little respect they have for the book fans and the source material. For those who say they feel like they have to see it to be able to comment on it, we knew in advance about the White Witch's cameo in Walden's PC, the night raid, the change in Peter and Caspian's relationship, the green mist in the VDT and the sea serpent. We'll know enough to be able to have pretty strong opinions on it long before it shows up in theater. That's why I am in the "they are going to have to work really hard to convince me to set foot in the theater" and 'wait and see" camp. 

Posted by: @fantasia

No matter what happens from here on out, whether they change Aslan back to male or not, I have fallen firmly into the wait-and-see-the-reviews camp before I make a decision to support the film. 

 

I remember there was huge backlash by fans when they heard that Peter Jackson was going to have Arwen go to Helmsdeep and fight alongside Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the rest.  This seemed like an absolutely foolish & unnecessary change.  Some fans lost confidence in the production.  There are interviews in which Peter Jackson comments that it was a mistake and they rolled it back, partly in response to the fans.  Liv Tyler has an interview somewhere where she talks about crying after reading the comments about herself on the internet.  The filmmakers reversed the decision and I think few people would critic the Lord of The Rings trilogy as being unfaithful to the books.

With the exception of the news that Aslan may be a female Lion, everything else I've heard about this production seems positive; both respectful of C.S. Lewis and the source material.

Making Aslan female feels like a deal-breaker to me - I will probably see the movie once and only once if it is true; I have little hope that it will be a faithful adaption of the book.  However, if Netflix / Greta Gerwig change the decision (particularly if it involves humbly owning that they made a mistake) or confirm that the rumor is baseless, I will respond in good faith.

Posted by: @starkat

For those who say they feel like they have to see it to be able to comment on it, we knew in advance about the White Witch's cameo in Walden's PC, the night raid, the change in Peter and Caspian's relationship, the green mist in the VDT and the sea serpent. We'll know enough to be able to have pretty strong opinions on it long before it shows up in theater.

True. But even if it turns out to be true that Aslan in this production is female (or outwardly male but with a female voice actor) — and we will know that much for sure before it hits the cinemas / streaming service — I still want to see what they've actually done with that whole concept, and with the rest of the film.

It’s quite likely, in that case, that I will be so appalled by the whole thing that I never want to watch it again (just as I was with Walden’s LWW). But if I’ve seen it for myself, at least then I can comment directly on exactly what was wrong about it (to me, anyway) and why. And then I never need to see it again and almost certainly won’t be watching any further films in the series (again, same with me and the Walden franchise) — but at least I’ll know for sure what I’m getting wound up about.

Posted by: @davidd

With the exception of the news that Aslan may be a female Lion, everything else I've heard about this production seems positive; both respectful of C.S. Lewis and the source material.

Making Aslan female feels like a deal-breaker to me - I will probably see the movie once and only once if it is true; I have little hope that it will be a faithful adaption of the book.  However, if Netflix / Greta Gerwig change the decision (particularly if it involves humbly owning that they made a mistake) or confirm that the rumor is baseless, I will respond in good faith.

This is pretty much where I stand too. Thanks for sharing the bit about Arwen and Helm's Deep too — I'd forgotten that detail, but there's proof that some film-makers will listen to the fans and back down on a controversial change if enough people speak up. Awful to hear about the hurtful comments about Liv Tyler, though, since none of that was her fault personally.

For me I kind of feel like I could shift like a pendulum, if Netflix changes course and responds to fan backlash over the Meryl Streep playing Aslan rumour - or if they deny it was even true in the first place, or if they give some understandable context about the decision (eg - as I've written elsewhere, using her voice for part of the role in a scene or as part of a conglomerate of different voices).

I was thinking as I read over some of the posts already in this thread last night, that in a way, it would be smart and wise of Netflix and Greta Gerwig not to comment on the rumour either acknowledging the truth of it or denying it - if they in fact don't go down that direction, but instead stick with casting a male actor for the role.  Because by doing staying silent on the whole rumour - neither confirming nor denying the truth of whether it has been considered (if they don't take that direction) leaves nobody knowing, out of the three perspectives @icarus mentioned just who was correct.  Did they backdown due to fan backlash or were they never intending to do it in the first place? etc...

So for me anyway, if they do backdown and not go through with this decision, or else if there was no truth to the rumour in the first place and a male actor does end up being cast as Aslan, yes, that swings me back into the more likely to see it category, but so could a reasonable explanation.  Whatever the case, in my own opinion, I think I come to any future film/television series adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia (including Greta Gerwig's current project) with a lower expectations than I did with the Walden Media films - I think, as I was in my twenties at the time, I was a bit more naïve and was almost looking for the perfect Narnia films.  I dreamed as a child of something that was as faithful to the books as the BBC but even better - whilst in parts I think the Walden Media films, did capture that, in other elements the BBC series still stands out as better IMO.  What's all this got to do with the upcoming film?  Basically, I think I'm now more aware that as good or bad or indifferent as the Greta Gerwig production is it's not going to be 100% perfect in every way, so I'm not going to go looking for that.  She'll relieve a major concern of mine if she ends up casting a male actor as Aslan, but that's about it.  I don't think there's any other decision she could make (and I hope I don't speak too soon) that could cause me to lean back into the unlikely to see it category.

Posted by: @pete

I dreamed as a child of something that was as faithful to the books as the BBC but even better - whilst in parts I think the Walden Media films, did capture that, in other elements the BBC series still stands out as better IMO.  What's all this got to do with the upcoming film?  Basically, I think I'm now more aware that as good or bad or indifferent as the Greta Gerwig production is it's not going to be 100% perfect in every way, so I'm not going to go looking for that.

Well said, although I must admit I do still hold out the hope for a "better than either the BBC or Walden" adaptation of Narnia, even if this upcoming production isn't it.

I remember being blown away by Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films in the early 2000s — even though they weren't 100% perfect adaptations (I don't think that's possible anyway), I would certainly rate them at 80-90%, and while there were a few things left out or changes that I didn't like, they were only relatively minor issues and nothing that spoiled the overall "WOW!!!" effect. I honestly hadn't thought it would be possible to do anything like a faithful and watchable adaptation of that particular fantasy saga, so I was really quite chuffed that Jackson did such a great job all round.

On the other hand, what he then did with The Hobbit was such a desecration that as soon as I heard he was making that much simpler story into another epic trilogy, I decided I wasn't going to watch any of those films and I never have. So really I was in the same camp there as those who have already decided they absolutely won't watch Gerwig's new Narnia movie if Aslan is female!  

But I guess my reasoning with this one is that there is a slim possibility — the Talking Beasts discussion brought this up — that Aslan could be female but otherwise true to character and most other things about the film could still be faithful as well. I don't think that's likely — if somebody honestly sees no problem with changing the gender of the character who's meant to be Jesus in another form, they're not likely to hesitate to make other drastic changes — but I'm still curious enough, in this case, to want to see what the result is like.

Also, it's only one film (whereas The Hobbit was three), so that's only a couple of hours or so that I need to spare out of my life. If this first one is a disaster, I simply won't watch any future ones in the Netflix series, just as I didn't with the Walden series.

But meanwhile, it's still going to be a totally new version of Narnia — a story we haven't seen on screen before, with a director who hasn't done Narnia before — and I just want to see for myself what it's like before I make the absolute decision as to whether I accept it or detest it. Whereas with the Peter Jackson franchise, I'd already seen he was capable of doing a very faithful and watchable version of Middle-earth, so I think that had something to do with why I was so appalled that he'd gone and lost the plot, quite literally, with The Hobbit.

I never imagined them changing Aslan to a lioness, only to have a female voice. I would have problems with just a female voice, changing to a female lion changes so much about the character and is completely unnecessary. But as the infamous Rachel Zegler said "it's Hollywood baby". If they are willing to change this, there is no reason to think they would stop there. I have zero hopes they will translate the beauty of Lewis's writing into something faithful for the big screen. With that being said, nothing will ever replace the books, no movie comes close or will ever come close. So I am not worried at all what they will do with this series because it does not and cannot change the truth, beauty and goodness of The Chronicles of Narnia as it was intended to be enjoyed and explored. 

I would never have expected to see rumors about Meryl Streep voicing Aslan.  Don't get me wrong, I think that she's a wonderful actress!  Just that she isn't who I imagine voicing Aslan, is all.  I'm trying to remind myself that at this point, it's only a rumor...  Could very well be nothing to it.  At any rate, I suppose I'll have to wait and see the movie.  Can't exactly make a decision one way or the other until I know more about the film!

It still is possible that Netflix or Greta Gerwig will change their minds, but I wouldn’t have high hopes for it. We haven’t heard from Greta herself about why the female Lion would be chosen so it still remains a mystery. I wonder if there will be an interview with her to explain the reasons for the choice of actors and the gender appropriate roles such as Aslan himself. Or maybe she and Netflix will just keep quiet about the whole thing.  There might not be any obligation to talk about it, but it would be better to keep the fans informed.