Right now I can't think of a way for them to do that, but then again I couldn't figure out how they'd fit her into VDT and they managed to do that.

I agree that putting the White Witch into HHB makes somewhat less sense than even referring to the White Witch in VDT. Yes, the White Witch is mentioned in HHB (book) when Aravis and Lazaraleen overhear the Tisroc discussing an invasion of Narnia with Rabadash and Ahoshta. Rabadash denies the White Witch is a problem, and tells the Tisroc that Narnia is fruitful and prosperous. The Tisroc demurs thinking that the Pevensies must be magicians, themselves, to have defeated the White Witch. But Rabadash doesn't think so.

It is because of the absence of the White Witch that Rabadash can go ahead with his plan to invade first Archenland then Narnia.

But would even a mention of this be unwelcome?

I don't think any of us would mind a mere dialogue mention of Jadis. Insisting she never ever be mentioned ever again is fairly unreasonable. The problem is that after they shoe-horned her into VDT, there's definitely a sort of cynical assumption that no matter what book they do, they'll find a way to give Tilda Swinton some sort of extended scene not even remotely necessary for the film's story. And then they'll use her in the trailer and try to make it sound like she's back from the dead (again) and rampaging around Narnia.

I just want to add that if they did HHB, it would be very difficult emotionally for Douglas Gresham, since that book is special to him. After all, it was dedicated to him! Doing Narnia would be very emotional for him on its own, not to mention such a beloved book to him. It would be hard to give in to changes in the plot, just as he had to fight for other parts to be in the movies. Changing the story of Narnia would be hard for him, but I think it would be even harder with HHB.

I have an idea for marketing HHB to capitalize on both it's strength as a stand-alone, and it's strong LWW connection.

Now we know that Shasta is no super-hero. He's clumsy, uncouth, confused. Often the events of the story just seem to sweep him up and carry him along with them. It isn't until the latter half of the story that he starts to develop initiative. But, throughout the story, Shasta's greatest strengths are his humility and loyalty, characteristics that any normal person could develop. I think he would be the ideal character to set up as what they call an audience surrogate.

So the marketing should focus on Shasta and how the audience can relate to him. How would you feel if your horse started talking to you? How would you feel if you were rescued from a life of dull drudgery and carried away on an adventurous journey to Narnia? How would you feel if you could hob-nob with your favorite characters from LWW? So on and so forth.

I love the HHB, but I am worried how they would do Aravis' and Shasta's romance. This is why I really would be even more worried about this being a movie than SC or MN. To see what they did with Susan and Caspian (making them have a relationship) and what they did to the real romance Caspian and RD (having less than the book even had.) This is NOT a Teen Romance!

The conniving Tisroc, not to mention his henchman Ahoshta, are definitely lovely roles to play. Richard Wheeler, who played HP's Vernon Dursley, and Timothy Spall would do really fine in these dastardly roles. There is even a spot of 'romance' with Susadash. I can just see Johnny Depp as Rabadash.

My major fears of HHB would be the whitewashing of the cast, particularly Aravis. I can imagine Aravis being played by a White girl while all the major villains will be played by people of Middle Eastern descent like Ben Kingsley.

The conniving Tisroc, not to mention his henchman Ahoshta, are definitely lovely roles to play. Richard Wheeler, who played HP's Vernon Dursley, and Timothy Spall would do really fine in these dastardly roles. There is even a spot of 'romance' with Susadash. I can just see Johnny Depp as Rabadash.

My major fears of HHB would be the whitewashing of the cast, particularly Aravis. I can imagine Aravis being played by a White girl while all the major villains will be played by people of Middle Eastern descent like Ben Kingsley.

Huh??? I was just suggesting that there is a bunch of white guys that would perform excellently as HHB villains. Sorry, at this moment I really don't know anyone famous who could be quite as villainous as the actors I mentioned, whatever their nationality.

Warner Bros in the Harry Potter series did a good job of employing realistic actors/actresses for the following roles:

Lee Jordan (dreadlocked Caribbean ancestry)
Dean Thomas (Welsh)
Cho Chang (Obvious part Chinese heritage with that name, with a Scottish accent)
Parvati and Padma Patil (Of UK-Indian continent heritage). But recently the actress who played Padma has had difficulties with a Muslim heritage.

I don't think that Walden, let alone Fox, is much different from Warner Brothers in their policies and procedures of hiring staff and recruiting suitable actors/actresses. And I rather expect that someone like the actresses who played the Patil twins in HP would be the ideal sort of actress to play Aravis. Just my tuppence worth.

The actresses who played the Patil twins in HP were serviceable but I'm hoping for a much stronger actress to play the part of Aravis. They had the right looks for the role though.

HHB next? I believed that Walden already had made out MN script