While I have a LOT of misgivings about the Netflix news. I am at the very least excited at the possibility of seeing all the books adapted with a consistent cast, look, and feel.

I'm really excited! Yes, there's some trepidation as well, but I feel like this medium makes so much sense for Narnia and I'm so pleased that this is going to happen while Narnia is still under the guardianship of the C.S. Lewis estate. I'm also stoked that we're going to get another version of Prince Caspian! I love that book so much and it's always really disappointed me how so many of the scenes I love from PC are just missing in the Walden film. And don't even get me started on how much we need a new version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

(And maybe we'll finally get corporeal dryads instead of just glitzy special effects!! )

I, for one, and horrified by this news. I do not want netflix to touch Narnia. I've long been joking that I will defend Narnia (books and Walden movies) against anyone who would seek to destroy them, but now it seems that I must actually do that. I don't know if Douglas Gresham really knows the can of worms he has potentially opened by letting netflix take on Narnia.
I am so upset right now.

I've always thought the books would work better as a series rather than movies, so I'm quite excited! Still a little trepidation on how the adaptation is going to go and a bit worried because some Netflix originals didn't get very far before they were cancelled. However, they currently seem committed to doing all seven and they do need to step up their content with Disney starting their own streaming service. My fingers are crossed.

I am very excited. I really hope they do chronological order to tell the story! I am excited Netflix is taking this on. I think people need to remember that it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep everything the exact same to the book, so there will be changes. Hope for the best, and cant wait to experience Narnia all over again!!! VERY EXCITED!

I actually like how it sounds like there's some sort of plan on how they'll bring all novels to the screen. Usually, it's one book at a time - simply trying to survive and then deciding what to do next.

I love spending time in this world. It's my favorite aspect of the books. I truly hope that these adaptations will inspire those same feelings!

I, for one, and horrified by this news. I do not want netflix to touch Narnia.

I'm kind of with you on that, Libby, but I guess I'm more disappointed than horrified. I'll be upset if they destroy the goodness of Narnia, but I think there's a chance they will be really good. My sadness is that I wanted a Narnia series I could really get into, but now I will not be able to. I may be able to find someone with a Netflix account to let me watch them when they come out, but I can't support Netflix. My sadness is that, as FK said, we finally have a chance to get what we've always wanted, but it's tainted for me.

I try to be thoughtful about where I spend money, too, so I really sympathize with your thoughts on Netflix, Anfinwen. Still, I think that Narnia on Netflix could have some definite advantages...

Something that I find myself genuinely excited about is that I feel like a ton of people are going to be exposed to Narnia solely because it's on Netflix, and that's a beautiful thing. There are so many people who would never pay to go see a Narnia film in theaters because they aren't fans, they think the stories are just for kids, or maybe they're kids themselves but can't get their parents to take them to the theater. But 125+ million people already have Netflix accounts with access to the whole catalog, and I know there's going to be people who, on a night when they're bored and just looking for something to watch and click on something at random, will literally find themselves stumbling into Narnia and their lives will never be the same.

I think about what a deeply positive influence that Narnia and C.S. Lewis have been in my life for so many years, and how I just happened to pick up one of the books entirely by chance when I was ten or eleven. I didn't know any Narnia fans at the time. (That sure has changed. ) So it makes me really happy to think that other people will discover Narnia through Netflix, and that a whole new world of wonder and meaning will be opened up for them as it was for me. I'm very excited about that.

Something that I find myself genuinely excited about is that I feel like a ton of people are going to be exposed to Narnia solely because it's on Netflix, and that's a beautiful thing. There are so many people who would never pay to go see a Narnia film in theaters because they aren't fans

That's a really good point, and I am happy about it for that reason and because Narnia may finally get the the chance it deserves. I watched a bit of a video that someone put on the Narniaweb facebook where most of the commentators wrote Narnia off as a failure and a religious series, and that made me really sad. I think most people don't really even know or remember that the books actually have really cool plots.

Something occurred to me today at work. If you were to break PC up into chunks, you would probably get around the pacing issues that the PC movie had to deal with. Obviously, in the book we start with the Pevensies, have a four chapter flashback, and then the two storylines converge. The flashback was a problem that needed to be worked around and unfortunately that meant cutting most of it (which really annoyed me as those four chapters are some of my favourites in the entire series). However, if you split PC into a few episodes, you could have the flashback could have an episode all to itself, either as a prologue or as the second episode.

I, for one, and horrified by this news. I do not want netflix to touch Narnia.

I'm kind of with you on that, Libby, but I guess I'm more disappointed than horrified. I'll be upset if they destroy the goodness of Narnia, but I think there's a chance they will be really good. My sadness is that I wanted a Narnia series I could really get into, but now I will not be able to. I may be able to find someone with a Netflix account to let me watch them when they come out, but I can't support Netflix. My sadness is that, as FK said, we finally have a chance to get what we've always wanted, but it's tainted for me.

yeah.....I used to have a netflix account but dropped it for various reasons.....I don't trust their original content, it's pretty awful. They ruined Anne of Green Gables, so why would they do Narnia correctly? The fact that Walden Media managed to find 2 directors (Andrew Adamson and Michael Apted) who stayed true to the Christian themes is a miracle. I am positive that with Netflix, the first thing to go would be those Christian themes. And the only way to do that would be to warp the stories completely until they are unrecognizable. I don't know why everyone is so sure that just anyone is going to remain true to what Lewis wrote. to me, the Walden films are perfect because they actually remain true to what Lewis intended in the books: they allegory remained and was expounded on. Adamson and Apted both understood that the allegorical themes were inherent to the plot, and they chose, each in their own way, to make sure those themes remained.It is highly unlikely that Netflix will do the same.

Hi Libby, I can answer your question as to why I personally am feeling optimistic. Please understand, I am well aware that we could end up with a bad product here, but .... optimistic.

Previous LWW and PC
Walt Disney (Distributor) --> Walden Media (Production Company) --> Douglas Gresham (Executive Producer) --> Andrew Adamson (Director)

Anne With An E
Netflix (Distributor) --> Northwood Anne/Northwood Entertainment/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) --> Multiple Directors and Producers

Upcoming Narnia series
Netflix (Distributor) --> eOne (Production Company) -- Douglas Gresham (Executive Producer) -- Yet-to-be-hired Producers and Directors (I doubt Joe Johnston is still involved)

With LWW, Disney was very hands off, and it turned out to be the most popular by the majority of fans, and the most accurate to the book.
In the same way, Netflix is a very hands off company. They're like "Make the show and we'll pay for it and upload it!" so what they can be credited for is picking and choosing material to fund. That ranges from Anne with an E (generally disliked) to Series of Unfortunate Events (mixed reviews) to Stranger Things (generally loved). They paid for all of these, but as far as I'm aware, they really had little to do with the actual content. That was up to the producers and directors.
So, if eOne and Mark Gordon find a solid director (or directors?), we have high hopes that we'll end up with a really good product because there won't be as many "cooks in the kitchen" so to speak.

But the direction the discussion is heading in this thread needs to move to the Netflix thread. This thread is for discussing the fact that all seven books are being made, instead of four. I apologize for not being more clear on the topic when I started the thread.

I am still super excited, and getting more and more excited. Regardless, it will bring Narnia to many who do not know about it.

An example, when VDT came out in theaters, I took some of my youth group kids (i was a youth pastor then) and some loved and some hated. I told the ones who hated it to read the book. They ended up devouring all seven books and are now HUGE Narnia fans. It will at least make people aware and start reading the series.
I am hoping they are going to be amazing, however, if not we will still have more people reading to see what it is all about. So yes, very excited!

As long as they take their time developing the scripts in a way that works for film and is faithful to themes of the books, I'll be satisfied. I know the production quality I would want will follow!

I'm mostly excited for the books that haven't been developed into film/tv at all (as flawed as both VDTs and the one Silver Chair are). Imagine seeing Shasta and Aravis's relationship* develop on screen! The performances have such potential for nuance. Also seeing Charn and the birth of Narnia and FLEDGE for crying out loud! XD

Also, I'm excited to get to last battle and see all the characters from all the friends of Narnia together with the same actors from the previous adaptations.

*not romantically (though that's where it leads), but the strained and complicated companionship they develop, along with their personal growth