OH YES! Let the flood of news begin! Hopefully anyway...

What does everyone think of Aldrich's potential? And what exactly is his role as "creative architect?" I know relatively little about this stuff, so I'm not sure what that even means. Is it a specific job or a general term for multiple jobs?

Glumpuddle and I both think the term is like Showrunner - overall style and content controller, so that all the productions agree in information and in the look and feeling of Narnia.

Overall, this doesn't really change my opinion about Netflix's Narnia. I'm not familiar with any of what little Matthew Aldrich has done, so I'll just have to wait and see if his involvement ends up being good or bad.

Mostly this announcement just reinforces my concerns about what Netflix is doing. I was staring to hope that maybe when they said they were making “series and films” that it meant they were going to do either just films or just a series, but hadn’t decided which. But I guess they are in fact going to do BOTH, which doesn't make much sense to me.

Also the fact that this announcement once again uses the phrase "stories from across the Narnia Universe" which coupled with the fact they are doing films and series, brings back my concerns that they plan to make a bunch of spinoffs not based on the books. Which is just, a terrible idea.

They will only be able to do spinoffs if the Estate allows it. I reserve judgement on that, knowing how zealously the material is protected from unauthorised uses, and remembering the attempt at picture books about 14 years ago.

They will only be able to do spinoffs if the Estate allows it. I reserve judgement on that, knowing how zealously the material is protected from unauthorised uses, and remembering the attempt at picture books about 14 years ago.

That's what makes the announcement of films and series so confusing. Would they really turn some books into films and others into series? I can't say that's a terrible idea because I do think some books would be better adapted as a miniseries (mainly VDT), but it seems so counterintuitive.

(To myself) I'm optimistic about Narnia adaptations. Let that sink in... I'M OPTIMISTIC.

At this moment, I'm glad to hear about Narnia's visual progress, even if said progress is taking a long time to develop.

I'm still concerned that Netflix is being flippent about Narnia this early in production, but then again, Netflix is impossible to read... completely inscrutable, as they prefer to be.

Still, I'm feeling good that a Pixar alumni is involved this early in the process, and at this rate, we might hear later this year which Narnia projects are staring first, with casting calls starting by the turn of the decade.

It's happening. For better (or worse), it's finally happening. Narnia is coming. Winter is ending.

Still, I'm feeling good that a Pixar alumni is involved this early in the process, and at this rate, we might hear later this year which Narnia projects are staring first, with casting calls starting by the turn of the decade.

It's happening. For better (or worse), it's finally happening. Narnia is coming. Winter is ending.

YES! Optimism has returned!

Also, "turn of the decade" sounds really far off until you realize... that's next year.
I'm really hoping you're right!
The time has come for the silent waiting to end!

I’m optimistic about Aldrich’s involvement in the movie Coco. It’s truly one of the best animated films I have ever seen. Of course, Narnia and Coco are different animals, but at least the initial prospects look promising.

Based off the Hollywood Reporter’s article, it looks like he will oversee the entire set of books into film with at least one series. So my understanding of this is that any series will be based off of additional content outside of the books themselves, while the books will each have their own film. Hopefully anyways; my heart has been played so much with this franchise that I don’t even know how serious to take any news anymore. At least the franchise appears to be in good hands. And I think Netflix is hoping for the same. They will eventually lose all of their curated content to Disney, WB etc., so they will need quality original content to keep them ahead of the game. They will be betting big on Narnia and they can’t afford to mess this up. I would even say that Netflix might need Narnia more than Narnia needs Netflix.

Despite Aldrich not having much under his belt, I have to agree with the optimism here for his involvement in the film, "Coco." It is one of my favorite movies of all-time. It was a vibrant, colorful (both storytelling and visually) yet also touching and genuine movie. There was a high level of respect and care that went into the writing of that movie. That is what makes me optimistic.

I feel like there will always be a part of me that will be hesitant as a precaution though. But I look to the future with optimism.

I've had a couple days to process.

I have NOT seen Coco. I'm burned out on Pixar's cry-fest movies, so I hadn't bothered. I need to see if Netflix still has it on streaming and go watch it now.

My first reaction was not excitement or "yay! News", it was "What the heck is a creative architect?" On my own I came to the conclusion of show runner (thanks to everyone for the term, I didn't know what it was), which is a big deal if that's correct. It certainly implies that maybe the behind-the-scenes negotiations are coming to an end and progress can now start. At least I hope that's the case. I was a bit despairing the other day when the news of Mark Gordon stepping down was announced.

As to the specific selection, I am very hopeful actually! It actually hearkens back to when Andrew Adamson was selected based solely on Shrek and his passion for the Narnia stories. Based on the fact that the powers-that-be gave this-series-that-MUST-be-a-huge-hit-for-Netflix to a guy who's a relatively unknown and inexperienced, to me implies that it's his vision and passion that has to be off the chart. At least I certainly hope that's the case.

Soooo... that means I'm expecting a movie that is not going to be run-of-the-mill. Probably pretty artistic, which could be really good or really bad.

My first reaction was not excitement or "yay! News", it was "What the heck is a creative architect?"

?  Yeah, I don't understand why they couldn't just say showrunner. Anyway, at first I was neutral. (I haven't seen Cleaners. I have seen Coco and I remember enjoying it quite a bit but that doesn't mean I'd enjoy anything Aldrich worked on.) Now I'm leaning towards cautiously optimistic. I think it's nice that they're getting someone who's done both a movie for adults and a movie for family audiences. Maybe that means the Narnia franchise will appeal to multiple audience. (I'm assuming Cleaners isn't a kid's movie. If I'm wrong,...oh well. ? ) And the fact that Aldrich isn't a creator famous for a particular style means that he won't necessarily force a style on Narnia that's foreign to the books. (Of course, it'd be really nice if he had a specific style which screamed, "Narnia" but I don't know if there are any creators in Hollywood or Netflix whom that could be said about.)

It certainly implies that maybe the behind-the-scenes negotiations are coming to an end and progress can now start. At least I hope that's the case. I was a bit despairing the other day when the news of Mark Gordon stepping down was announced.

I was thinking the same thing! This is definitely a big step forward! I'm wondering how much Douglas Gresham had to say about this, though, if Aldrich is so little-known, I doubt he was exactly a first choice off the top of Gresham's head.
Mark Gordon stepping down could just mean... a new direction for the company??? A good one I hope?
Anyway, I don't think he's so closely involved with the series that it would hurt it that much. (But like I said before, I'm not that knowledgeable about these things, so... I could be very wrong.)

Mark Gordon stepping down could just mean... a new direction for the company??? A good one I hope?
Anyway, I don't think he's so closely involved with the series that it would hurt it that much. (But like I said before, I'm not that knowledgeable about these things, so... I could be very wrong.)

I could be wrong, but I don't think we should take the news of Mark Gordon stepping down as eOne's president to mean that he won't be involved with Netflix production.

The article about Gordon resigning mentioned something about him returning to being a producer, and the announcement about Aldrich still says that Gordon will be a producer on all projects. Though to play devil's advocate, I suppose that could be outdated and they just copied what was in the initial announcement, though I'd be surprised if that was the case.

To fantasia, narnia fan 7, and anyone else who has not seen Coco. If you can't find it, there's a pretty good review of Coco that is pretty honest (both positive and negative) on Youtube called "Coco Review: Go See It!" by CellSpex. That is, if you don't mind some minor spoilers about the general plot and certain events and characters that appear. It can give you a good idea of how the material of Coco was handled.