@fantasia oh! I'd already suggested a hint of this as the credit scene in MN.

Very interesting idea to put it in LWW.

I think as a general rule of thumb, its good to end a movie with your most impactful and iconic piece of visual imagery, and for The Chronicles of Narnia, the Wardrobe is probably right up there as your most memorable piece of popular culture iconography (closely tied with the Lamppost in the Snow). Therefore I really don't think anyone is going to be walking out of a Narnia movie and being confused if the final shot is of a Wardrobe.

I definitely think Christopher Nolan has got the type of big-impact, high crescendo, ending that i'm after down to a fine art, and perhaps the two films of his that most spring to mind for something like the Magician's Nephew's ending are 'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012) and 'Dunkirk' (2017).

'The Dark Knight Rises' in particular, ends with this perfect montage of scenes wrapping up the plot threads of the entire trilogy, with Gary Oldman's emotive voiceover reading a passage from Charles Dickens' 'A Tale of Two Cities' and this big sweeping score that builds to a final shot of a crucial piece of Batman iconography. It was never intended to be the set-up for a fourth film, but it is rather a definitive punctuation mark that ends the film, as if to suggest "our story is over, but theirs is just getting started".

Dunkirk similarly ends on a narrated montage, this time with Fionn Whitehead reading out one of Winston Churchill's most iconic and memorable speeches (accompanied by the strings of Elgar's 'Nimrod' no less) with the ending of the speech ("until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old") perfectly timed with a lingering shot of a Spitfire burning on the beach... before cutting back ever so briefly to a close up of Fionn's expressionless face.

Both of these moments for me, are scenes which require the audience to understand the significance and relevance of the visual imagery the films choose to present as its final shot, but they also aren't asking the audience to appreciate anything particularly niche or esoteric - these are big powerful moments referencing big moments of popular culture and important history respectively.

For me, that's kind of the vibe I would want to end Magician's Nephew with - this big impactful reveal of a cornerstone of popular culture and iconography - the Wardrobe

Posted by: @icarus

For me, that's kind of the vibe I would want to end Magician's Nephew with - this big impactful reveal of a cornerstone of popular culture and iconography - the Wardrobe

If I have to come up with an alternate idea for a massive icon at the end of MN to lead into LWW, you're right, I can't match the Wardrobe. And for you and me as Narnia fans, that's probably the way to go.

But I'm thinking of those who haven't read the books, and this is their first introduction into Narnia. They don't already have the magical link between MN and LWW. Many, many times, I've heard publication-order people mention the big "ah ha" moment at the end of MN is one of the highlights of the prequel. But if you read MN first (or have a big wardrobe reveal at the end of the first movie) you jump into LWW going, "oh hey, that dusty old wardrobe in the attic is obviously magical because it came from a seed from Narnia and the professor must be Digory." So my intention with this suggestion is to save that element of surprise for the new generation of (hopefully) Narnia fans and lovers.

Who is this professor in LWW? Don't know. Why is this wardrobe important? Don't know. Get to the end of the LWW and then everything is revealed. Same surprise, just a different order for those of us who love publication order. 

Posted by: @icarus

I think as a general rule of thumb, its good to end a movie with your most impactful and iconic piece of visual imagery, and for The Chronicles of Narnia, the Wardrobe is probably right up there as your most memorable piece of popular culture iconography (closely tied with the Lamppost in the Snow). Therefore I really don't think anyone is going to be walking out of a Narnia movie and being confused if the final shot is of a Wardrobe.

Good thought. To me, the only drawback of this is... if we go by what Lewis actually wrote (and there's no guarantee Gerwig will), the wardrobe isn't actually meant to look interesting. It's only thanks to previous screen adaptations that we think of the wardrobe itself as iconic — the 2005 Walden film plays this up in particular. You know, Lucy pulling the sheet off this huge object to reveal a towering piece of furniture all covered with elaborate and intriguing carvings that mysteriously foreshadow the adventures that await inside. Whereas if you read the opening chapter of LWW, there's no suggestion that the wardrobe is the least bit exciting — it's just described as "one big wardrobe, the kind that has a looking-glass in the door". Three out of the four children don't give it a second glance — "Nothing there!" is all Peter says as they turn and walk out again — and Lucy just lingers back out of initially fairly mild curiosity. The real excitement doesn't start mounting until she's inside and finding gradually that there doesn't seem to be a back to the wardrobe where she would expect it to be...

Of course, the new adaptation of MN could finish with a shot of a rather plain-looking wardrobe and most viewers would still guess what it is and what it means. After all, even those who haven't read any of the books or seen any previous adaptations will probably still be aware that the by-far-the-most famous book in this series is called The Lion, the Witch and the...

This does remind me of a slight gripe I have about the ending of MN itself, not that I picked up on this as a kid. The tree out of which we're told the wardrobe was made was an apple tree. All right, it was a Narnian apple tree and it grew faster than an ordinary tree, and was probably fairly tall when it blew down — although given that it was planted in 1900 and it must have fallen before 1940, it wasn't terribly old for a tree. But my point is... apple trees can grow quite tall, especially if they're not pruned, but they don't grow particularly thick — not in the trunk. Thinking of even the biggest and oldest apple trees I've seen over the years (we had an old orchard of them where I lived previously in Kent), I cannot imagine you could possibly get anywhere NEAR enough wood from the trunk of one single apple tree to make an entire wardrobe. It's not the kind of tree that's used for furniture, probably for that very reason. So the ending of MN, satisfying though it is from a story point of view, does strongly suggest that Lewis didn't know very much about either botany or carpentry.

(Unless of course the entire tree, branches and all, got ground up for chipboard and veneered over, in which case you might just make enough pieces to be able to assemble them into a wardrobe. The Lion, the Witch and the IKEA Flatpack Wardrobe. ) 

Posted by: @courtenay

I cannot imagine you could possibly get anywhere NEAR enough wood from the trunk of one single apple tree to make an entire wardrobe.

This is hilarious Courtenay, because when the Walden Narnia films were being produced, I was a college kid in interior architecture learning to make my own furniture. (I don't have access to a shop anymore, or I might still be making my own furniture, but that's neither here nor there.) I had the EXACT SAME REACTION when Walden revealed that gorgeous, ornate wardrobe for their movie. I finally just decided it was a magical Narnian Apple Tree. I even imagined a 5 loaves and 2 fishes type miracle while they were cutting up the wood and left it at that.  

Posted by: @fantasia

This is hilarious Courtenay, because when the Walden Narnia films were being produced, I was a college kid in interior architecture learning to make my own furniture. (I don't have access to a shop anymore, or I might still be making my own furniture, but that's neither here nor there.) I had the EXACT SAME REACTION when Walden revealed that gorgeous, ornate wardrobe for their movie.

Oh good, it's not just me then — nice to have confirmation from someone with woodworking experience. 

I finally just decided it was a magical Narnian Apple Tree. I even imagined a 5 loaves and 2 fishes type miracle while they were cutting up the wood and left it at that.  

"And Aslan blessed the tree, and brake it, and gave it unto Digory, and Digory gave it unto the carpenter. And lo, it sufficed to make one BIG wardrobe; and they took up of the broken wood that was left twelve baskets full..."  

I actually seen movies where it had a scene played mid-credits. Sometimes it’s just for humor, sometimes it’s a set up for a possible sequel. 

If there was a twist at the end of MN during the credits (as @coracle and @fantasia have suggested), perhaps it could get the audience to come back for the next one. It will be like, “Oh, is there going to be another one?” 

It would be a sweet moment with Digory and his mother. I think they should have her take her time eating the pieces of the apple, perhaps a close up of her eating them piece by piece. Then even show her playing with Digory and Polly after she’s recovered. 

@jasmine_tarkheena 

A number of films have a scene in the middle of the credits. The first Walden film, for instance! We discover something about the Professor in this little scene with him and Lucy.

Posted by: @courtenay

To me, the only drawback of this is... if we go by what Lewis actually wrote (and there's no guarantee Gerwig will), the wardrobe isn't actually meant to look interesting...

.... Of course, the new adaptation of MN could finish with a shot of a rather plain-looking wardrobe and most viewers would still guess what it is and what it means.

Yeah, I don't think you necessarily need to have a big flashy and ornate looking wardrobe to make that moment work.

At the risk of painting myself as the world's biggest Christopher Nolan fanboy, I really like the shot (in the image below) from The Prestige (2006)

The Art of Movie Stills — The Prestige | Christopher Nolan | 2006

This is the first reveal you get within the film of Tesla's machine - all packed up within this plain wooden box, dumped somewhat unceremoniously into the middle of this big empty room, in an off-angle position....

Yet there is something about the way the light streaming in through the window hits the box. Something intriguing about its ever so slightly odd shape. The ominous score, and the way the camera lingers on the shot for ever so slightly longer than the audience would be comfortable with in a generic establishing scene... Everything about it just makes you desperate (but somewhat fearful) to know what's inside.

As much though as i can see @Fantasia's logic in moving this moment to the end of LWW instead (such that the link between the two books isn't fully established for the audience until all of the parts have been revealed) I just feel like doing so robs Magician's Nephew of its own climactic ending.... an ending which doesn't require you to have seen Greta Gerwig's LWW (or even Andrew Adamson's or CS Lewis'). It just requires you to understand the wider cultural significance of the Wardrobe as a piece of visual imagery as it pertains to Narnia.

@courtenay This is changing the subject, but you might find it a fun bit of trivia. Long before any Narnia movies were made, my introduction to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a series of picture books by Deborah Maze, which also had carved images on the wardrobe door. At least she got right that it's supposed to a have a looking glass on it though. Neither the Walden Media movie, the BBC miniseries, nor the Pauline Baynes illustrations included that. 

Posted by: @icarus

As much though as i can see @Fantasia's logic in moving this moment to the end of LWW instead ... I just feel like doing so robs Magician's Nephew of its own climactic ending....

So here's my next question then, how would you end LWW to give it a similar sort of feel? Or would you just end it as the book does? 

@fantasia oh that's a very interesting question! I guess I would have to think about that.

I do kind of like the end of Walden LWW, with the wardrobe door ajar and the roar from inside indicating there's more adventures to come.... But its definitely a warm, soft landing of an ending... Not a big defining crescendo moment.

Perhaps there isn't one, but I'll have a think about it.

Posted by: @col-klink

@courtenay This is changing the subject, but you might find it a fun bit of trivia. Long before any Narnia movies were made, my introduction to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a series of picture books by Deborah Maze, which also had carved images on the wardrobe door.

Hadn't heard of those before — I like the illustration! Still perhaps makes the wardrobe look a little too exciting, but at least it's not nearly as overdone as the Walden one.

In any case, at the time Lewis wrote LWW, he hadn't thought about the wardrobe's origins, which would be why he didn't mention any outward indications that it's magical. Once we do learn where it came from in MN, which he wrote a few years later, it does seem reasonable to think that Digory, when he had the wardrobe made from the Narnian apple tree (with its impossible amount of wood ), would have asked the maker to put some kind of decoration on it to remind him of Narnia. Hence the lion's head in that illustration, or in another picture book version of LWW that I have (illustrated by Robin Lawrie), there's a carving at the top that looks like the lamp from the lamppost.

Both the lion and the lamppost are part of Digory's own Narnia adventure, so those choices make sense and aren't too far from the sort of carvings you might expect to find on a traditional hand-made wardrobe from years ago. (Although again, this one wasn't made in the Victorian era, when elaborate decorations were in vogue, but probably some time in the 1930s. Really, it should be Art Deco style. )

Whereas the Walden version — I just looked up pictures of it to remind myself, and seriously, while it's a beautiful visual image as props go, it's so massive and elaborate that to me it doesn't actually look like a wardrobe at all, but, well, more like a magic portal to a fantasy world. Which it is, of course, but again, that's not what Lewis was aiming at...

At least she got right that it's supposed to a have a looking glass on it though. Neither the Walden Media movie, the BBC miniseries, nor the Pauline Baynes illustrations included that. 

 Screenshot-2025-01-26-130427.png

I remember it came up before in another discussion on NarniaWeb that none of the screen adaptations of LWW had included the looking-glass, and somebody pointed out how hard it is to film any live-action scene that has a mirror in it, because of the danger of the camera, crew, or any other movie-making elements being shown in it. Which makes sense, and as there's no need in the story for the wardrobe to have a mirror (or two) — it's just an element that Lewis casually mentions — for a film to leave it out is not a big issue, unless one is an absolute hyper-purist, which I'm not. (Honestly. )

For reference, this is one of the original pieces of concept art we received for Walden's LWW. A very plain and dusty looking Wardrobe:

I am.though kind of starting to see @Fantasia's point.... If you end MN with the Wardrobe, and end LWW on the Wardrobe (as per Walden) do you then just end up over-saturating on Wardrobes? 🤔