I'm pretty sure Matthew Aldrich is no longer involved since he was supposed to be working on a show and Greta Gerwig is going to do movies. Of course, Aldrich could have been moved from a show to movies but it's been confirmed that Gerwig is writing, not just directing, so unless they're collaborating, which admittedly isn't impossible, I'd say he's out. 

I don't really care much since I wasn't eager for Aldrich's take on Narnia. (Of course, I'm not really eager for Gerwig's either, so this is really a neutral move from my perspective. ) Maybe if we had a really interesting interview with him about his ideas for Narnia, I would be disappointed, but we don't have that.

Of course, it could be that Aldrich is still the "creative architect" for a Narnia TV series and Gerwig is writing and directing Narnia movies, but we've heard so little from Aldrich in all the time since his involvement was announced that I'm disinclined to believe that. 

I was kind of wondering about that! Are Matthew Aldrich and Mark Gordon still involved with the Narnia project? I haven't heard anything!

Now that we got news of Greta Gerwig writing and directing at least 2 Narnia films, is Matthew Aldrich out of the project? Is Greta Gerwig going to be working closely with Matthew Aldrich and Mark Gordon? I know that the Mark Gordon Company planned to reboot Narnia with The Silver Chair until Netflix acquired the rights to Narnia.

So I don't I know would say Matthew Aldrich and Mark Gordon are out of the project, at least not yet. They still might be involved unless we hear otherwise.

I think I can answer the question about Matthew Aldrich!

According to his agent's website, he's now "writing an untitled film in the DC Universe for Warner Bros." Up until fairly recently, that page said that he was under an exclusive three year deal with Netflix, which should have expired about this time last year. At this point, it seems unlikely that we'll see any of his work on Narnia now that Greta Gerwig has been brought on board to write and direct.

As for Mark Gordon, I'm not sure. The last time I heard him mention Narnia was in an interview at the end of 2020. I haven't seen any mention of Narnia for years from eOne or their parent company Hasbro. I'm not inclined to think that any of that group is involved at this point, but I'll keep digging around on it.

Posted by: @col-klink

I don't really care much since I wasn't eager for Aldrich's take on Narnia. (Of course, I'm not really eager for Gerwig's either, so this is really a neutral move from my perspective. )

As someone who has watched all of the films Matthew Aldrich has written, and all of the films Greta Gerwig has directed, I can confirm that this is indeed a massive step upwards.

Maybe the only reason I'd be disappointed that Matthew Aldrich isn't involved in Narnia anymore is that it means that no-one else has to suffer through the shere mind-numbing mediocrity of "Cleaner" and "Spinning Man"... I would love for someone to share that pain with  🤣 

Maybe he'll surprise us and still serve as executive producer. 

Posted by: @icarus

 

Maybe the only reason I'd be disappointed that Matthew Aldrich isn't involved in Narnia anymore is that it means that no-one else has to suffer through the shere mind-numbing mediocrity of "Cleaner" and "Spinning Man"... I would love for someone to share that pain with  🤣 

You're dedication is unmatched 😆 

In regards to what Aldrich had been working on, there may be a hint in a Medium article written by Aldrich himself. 

These conversations [about scripts] don’t always go smoothly. The director might want something in the script that I vehemently disagree with. The studio could demand ten pages be cut, or that the feature film I’d been working on for nine months be re-broken as a 8-part TV series (true story).

By all initial indications, Netflix was focused on live-action feature films first, but then in January 2021, he attended the WGA showrunners program, which indicated he had a pilot script written for a TV series. 

I'm inclined to believe this comment is referring to Narnia (given the timeline). If it is, I think it really just speaks to the lack of vision for the project at Netflix originally...

Posted by: @impending-doom

In regards to what Aldrich had been working on, there may be a hint in a Medium article written by Aldrich himself. 

These conversations [about scripts] don’t always go smoothly. The director might want something in the script that I vehemently disagree with. The studio could demand ten pages be cut,or that the feature film I’d been working on for nine months be re-broken as a 8-part TV series (true story).

Interestingly enough, exactly 9 months after Matthew Aldrich was hired (June 2019) was the start of the COVID Pandemic (March 2020). I wonder if that had anything to do with Netflix reconsidering TV as being the better route to go down, given the circumstances at the time with cinemas shut indefinitely.

Equally, this was also around the same time that Netflix was going through a period of massive upheaval which culminated in the firing of Cindy Holland in September 2020, so it's quite possible this change in direction foisted upon Matthew Aldrich was part of that internal corporate strategy shift too.