I'd been wondering about the whole films-and-series thing and how that would work out, but that sounds like a really logical way of starting it, @rose... is anyone from Netflix reading this??  

To your idea of the "Pevensie trilogy" being a series, I would add The Silver Chair as a series after those, since it does follow on consecutively from VDT (in both original publication order and chronological order) and has one of the same main characters, i.e. Eustace.

The Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy are both books that Lewis "backtracked", chronology-wise, to write after he'd written the four consecutive Pevensies-Caspian-Eustace adventures. Actually, I think I read somewhere that he started writing HHB while he was writing SC and finished HHB first, but published it the year after SC, which is why he puts a plug for "the grand old tale of Prince Cor and Aravis and the horse Bree" in SC. I believe he was also writing MN and The Last Battle more or less simultaneously and in fact finished LB before MN but had it published last, for obvious reasons. So those three sort of stand apart a little from the consecutive four — the creation story, the "in-between" story that takes place during the Pevensies' reign, and the final story of the end of Narnia (or rather, the mortal shadow-version of it) and the revelation of the real Narnia in Aslan's country. I'd say all those three would be good to have as films, if it's possible to do them justice in that format.

Ultimately I'd be happier having each one of the seven books turned into a series — at least 6 half-hour episodes each, longer if needed — as that makes it possible to fit more in, gives viewers some breaks in logical places, and allows the writers to build up the suspense a lot better, especially when an episode ends on a cliffhanger. But as we now know Mark Gordon has specifically said "films and television series", that is obviously still what they're intending to do and what we can expect to get, unless their plans end up changing along the way.

How funny @rose! I was about to start this exact same thread! 

Originally my thought was that they were going to mix and match books based on how well they would adapt to the particular medium, like what you and @Courtenay are suggesting. 

But based on what "Everybody Else" is doing (ie Marvel, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings), my opinion is shifting to the books are going to be movies and then the TV series is going to be an "inspired by" extra. 

Posted by: @fantasia

But based on what "Everybody Else" is doing (ie Marvel, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings), my opinion is shifting to the books are going to be movies and then the TV series is going to be an "inspired by" extra.

That does make sense, really. It would be a bit strange to have any series of books adapted with some of them as films and some as episodic series, unless some of the original books were a lot longer than the others. But to have seven films of the seven books and then however many TV spin-offs they can come up with... I can see that working. Not that I'm terribly eager about the prospect of spin-offs, but if only they do the seven canonical Chronicles well enough, I don't think I'll mind what they do after that — if I don't like it, I simply won't watch it!!  

Posted by: @rose

Here's my prediction: a movie adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, and television series about the Pevensies spanning from LWW to VDT.

...I agree very much with that idea, and I always have: Netflix may adapt "NARNIA" in chronological order, but it will definitely go back-and-fourth between films and episodic series. [Side-Note: We haven't even gotten to the juicy stuff yet: The Spin-offs.]

I predict "The Magican's Nephew" will be a 2hr30m feature film

- Followed by a 3h30m multi-episode season of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe"

- Followed by "The Horse and His Boy" as a 2hr30m feature film

- Followed by both "Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia" and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" as 3hr 30m multi-episode seasons

- Followed by both "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle" as 2hr30m feature films.

Since the Narnia-Netflix plan layed out in 2018 consists of 'a series of feature films and at least one series', I don't think the producers would stray too far from keeping feature films at the center of this deal. Not unless they want to update the deal to accommodate the COVID times.

(I know that the entertainment industry has changed dramatically in the past 2 years, but, really, all that is lost [right now in COVID times] is the possibility of a movie theater release in the line of "Roma" or "The Irishman".)

As much as NarniaWebbers hope for 'getting the whole book in' with multiple seasons and the like, I don't think that's in the cards. I think it's much more likely that the feature films will be the adaptations we've yet to experience on screen, and the episodes will be the Pevensie stories we already know AND individual spin-off stories 'from across the Narnia Universe".

[Side-Note: I'm assuming all feature films and series would be expansive productions similar in pace and length to "Roma" or "The Irishman". I'm also assuming the Pevensie adaptations would only be slightly longer than the films when grouped together. (Ex. A Dawn Treader series could be 3h30m to 4hrs long in total, while a Horse and His Boy feature film could be 2h30m to 3 hours long.) That may seem redundant, but think about it: 4 Narnia books have the chance to be adapted to feature films, which has an appeal all its own. Personally, I prefer movies to series, because I dislike bing-watching long adaptations. Books will ALWAYS have more of the tale than the adaptation.] 🙂

I could see them making the "main" Chronicles storyline (LWW, PC, VDT, SC + LB) into a series, with the books that are more "anthology"-like (HHB + MN, that don't quite fit into the linear storyline) being made into movies.

I really wouldn't mind a series over movies since there would be room for expansion (such as battle scenes and the like - my guilty pleasure) without needing to cut any other important story aspects for time.  To me it's a win-win. 

Whichever direction they go with this, I do sincerely hope that the choose the best medium for whichever story they're working with, and don't restrict themselves on time. In a movie theater, it has to be a certain length and things are occasionally added or cut to the detriment of the film, but here, that's not a problem. So just make it however long it needs to be!

My predictions, in order from most likely to be a TV series, to most likely to be a movie....

• Voyage of the Dawn Treader - 100% certainty of being a TV Series. As was noted numerous times during development of the VODT movie, the book has a very "episodic" format, and so it would lend itself very nicely to a "one island per episode" format.
• Prince Caspian - I think the Walden production did an excellent job of re-fitting the story of Prince Caspian into a coherent 3-act movie structure, however I think the TV format just offers a much better means for telling a faithful rendering of the book - for example, the issue of the lengthy flashback in the book isn't so much a problem when you can easily break up your series into "flashback episodes" and "non-flashback episodes".
• Silver Chair - I am 50/50 on this one. On the one hand, it probably makes for the most easy conversion into a 3 act movie structure out of any of the "core stories", since its narrative structure has 3 distinct phases (Narnia, Ettinsmoor, Underland), with appropriate "action set pieces" at the half-way and final. However i could also see this one going the TV route because i feel that the quest element to the story naturally lends itself towards episode cliff-hangers which could work quite well. The BBC TV Series did well in this regard from what i recall, teasing out some of the "mystery" elements of the stories with suitable cliff-hangers.
• Magician's Nephew - again, I could go either way on this one. I think the mystery elements of the story would provide sufficient momentum to keep people intrigued from episode to episode, and maybe you could spin the world-hopping element of the Wood Between The Worlds into something of a "one world per episode format", but i also don't think the existing narrative structure would be too challenging to adapt into a 3 act movie structure, so i have no strong preferences here.
• The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - For me this almost has to be a movie, since I don't feel the book has enough narrative complexity to spin out into multiple episodes. I think its also such a familiar tale, that i can't see people really being gripped episode-to-episode. Even if you just did 6 episodes, you would still need at least 6 dramatic moments to close out each episode on, and I just don't feel that LWW has that. It does however have some well defined character arcs, and a simple enough story structure, both of which work well for a movie format.
• Horse and His Boy - The Mandalorian has piloted a lot of really interesting new technology to replace traditional "Green Screen" studio filming, however i still feel any adaptation of Horse and His Boy needs to be a predominantly location based affair, in some fairly exotic climates, and therefore I would think that doing it as a shorter movie-length production would be beneficial as far as travel budgets go.
• Last Battle - Go out with a bang. Even if all the rest are TV series, it makes sense to give Narnia the epic "cinematic" send off (if they even get that far this time!)

Posted by: @icarus

(VODT) would lend itself very nicely to a "one island per episode" format.

I don't quite buy this. The time spent on Deathwater Island is so short, Lewis included another island and an encounter with a sea serpent in the same chapter. And if you're going to do an episodic format for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, why would you make it a rule to end the average episode with the characters leaving an island when there are ample opportunity for cliffhangers on the Lone Islands, Dragon Island, the Island of the Voices, etc?

@col-klink

Well, I didn't quite mean it in the entirely literal sense - just more generally that you've got 5 or 6 islands across 5 or 6 episodes, so it's a nice fit. Broadly speaking.

I would think they might do a mix of film and series because some books are just more fit for either one.  They might do a movie for LWW because of what a hit it was with Walden. They may even follow in the same steps as the Narnia movies. It would be easier to make a movie of LWW since they have something to base it off of. I'm thinking they would also do a movie of  MN because they were starting with that one first. It would be in theaters and money might come faster if it was a movie instead of a TV series. Yet I still could picture Magician's Nephew as a TV series as well. 

Prince Caspian might as well be a movie. The book is very fast-paced and they would never know at what point to stop the episodes if it was a TV series. Like said before, they would have some background knowledge if they did a movie even though Walden wasn't as faithful to the book in PC.  That actually might give them a better advantage making a movie considering many Narnia fans were not happy with the way the movie went. They could make the movie as a sort of 'redo' of the Walden's version that would be more faithful to the book. 

Posted by: @icarus

100% certainty of being a TV Series. As was noted numerous times during development of the VODT movie, the book has a very "episodic" format,

@icarus, I agree! Every single island  of the book is an adventure in itself so it would only make sense that they make it a series. It has a very nice 'start and stop' place for every episode so it would flow nicely. It would also be a nice change from the movies, especially since fans were even more displeased than ever with VDT than with the other movies. They could be more faithful to the book, and when they take it 'one episode at a time' , they would be especially considerate to the tiny details in a chapter that could be lost in a large film. 

Silver Chair is the hardest one to decide about because I think it would work equally well as a TV series and a movie. Considering that I enjoyed the BBC version of SC very much, I think I would also like the Netflix version, if of course it followed in similar paths. It would work good as a TV series because of the suspense in the book, every episode could end in a cliff-hanger. Yet I could see it perhaps as an intense, rather suspenseful movie. Though I hope that they do not go over the top with the 'suspense' and make it simply a 'non-stop action movie'.  I think a movie would especially work out in the scene where Puddleglum declares his faith in Narnia. With all the rest of the book fresh in your mind, it would make for an especially precious scene.  Whereas if it was episodes, the audience would not have the same feeling as they only watched it one at a time, so they would be vaguely remembering the other episodes. 

Last Battle would have to be a movie, completely. An extremely sad one of course, (I'm not just talking about the Pevensies death, the whole book is sad.) For the same reasons as in SC, the audience would need to feel all the emotions in one go. The joy of being in Aslan's country and the grief of losing Narnia. With all that taking place, it would prove to be an exceptional movie. For all good movies, (and books, especially books) make you feel something. 

The new Narnia series will probably be a television series. It seems the most practical for the budget, and also it will be easer in filming to adapt the books for the small screen.  It now seems unlikely that a big screen version will be made of The Silver Chair, which of course is a disappointment.  But there is still hope for a small screen version of at least one of the other books.  I would hope for all seven, but that seems more realistic if at least one or two adaptations are successful. 🙂

I think that if they are doing tv shows, then what they need to do is give an episode to each character. Like the opening of LWW would lean into each character for an episode. Lucy finding Narnia. Edmund meeting the White Witch and being captured. They could step the story forward by spending more time with certain characters in certain episodes. The A plot vs the B plot. I really think they could quite easily doing a short season tv show for each book.I think if they figure that out ahead of time it could be really great. I really hope that is why they are taking so long rather then just giving up.

@decarus

Wow, never thought of that. Even though it would be harder to decipher which episode would belong to each character. Also, I think Lucy would get a lot more episodes in her perspective, for LWW at least. It's a cool idea though, considering how easy it would be cornering one episode on one of the Pevensies perspective and what they are feeling. You never really get to feel that while reading the books, since it's in third person. Though I'm wondering how they would portray that they are giving the perspective to a certain character. Since it's on screen instead of in a book, it's harder to tell which perspective or angle it's in, compared to a book where they can just say 'such and such' is feeling...                                      

Posted by: @decarus

I really hope that is why they are taking so long rather then just giving up.

I think that is what everyone is hoping. Netflix is taking so long, nobody is really confident  they are going to make an adaptation at all. It would still be awesome if they managed to make it though!  

@kingedthejust

Yeah, until we hear something about casting then it is really hard to feel hopeful that it is happening. I really need to do a reread of the books to get it all back in my head.

Yeah, just doing episodes for each character sounds fascinating to me. Though, i think they have to do LWW first because it would just change everything about LWW to do MN first. Also, i think that MN and LB go together and have to be back to back. The biggest problem being that netflix just has to be brave and not worry that different stories have different main characters. Also, if they are not worrying about the order as much as the flow of the story, it would be easier to show HHB and then show the Pevensies return to our world after that. They would return right before MN/LB which just really works for me what with then showing the beginning of Narnia and the wardrobe and showing the kids in the real world and the train accident and just being able to really work that all together in a mind blowing way.

I totally get why people want them to do MN first, but it is just so part of LB for me that it just doesn't work at all to separate them, in my opinion, as well as it pretty much ruining LWW.