This rumour wouldn't entirely surprise me if it ended up being true. I've only seen one film he's directed, but my general impression is that he's known for interweaving humour with social commentary. Which could be an interesting take, depending on the story. IF this happens to be true, my guess would be he'd direct VoDT, SC, or maybe HHB.

The source doesn't give the rumor any legitimacy, but for what it's worth, I can definitely imagine the studio pursuing a director like Taika Waititi — 1) he's popular, 2) he's a New Zealander, and 3) he's worked with child actors a lot. All of those fit well on a surface level. Going a little deeper, though, I think his style of storytelling may be too "wacky" and comedy-heavy to fit with Narnia, where there is "a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious" and is too good to waste on jokes. Not to say there's no humor in Narnia, but you know what I mean. To be fair, thought, I don't think I've seen any of his films, so I am probably not the best judge.

He's also already attached to write and direct two animated Roald Dahl series for Netflix (which seems like a much better fit for the type of stories he likes to tell) and that's on top of writing/directing a Star Wars movie for Disney, so I'll be surprised if he has time for Narnia over the next few years... but maybe at some point. (I think HHB could be interesting @ValiantArcher.)

Posted by: @Rose

Going a little deeper, though, I think his style of storytelling may be too "wacky" and comedy-heavy to fit with Narnia, where there is "a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious" and is too good to waste on jokes.

I have only seen one of his films, but the commentary/gifs/clips on everything else I've seen seem to agree. I think his style has the potential to work quite well for humour in a few areas (thinking specifically of the Experiment House and perhaps the Scrubb family - the Tisroc and Rabadash tend to lend themselves towards some over-the-top humour, but the balance has to be very delicate to keep from completely cutting the feet out from under them being a threat), but a sense of wonder? I don't know.

I hadn't seen that he was already signed up for a few Roald Dahl adaptations - that will keep him busy!

Not wishing to be disloyal to a fellow kiwi, but Taika's style really doesn't go with the feeling of Narnia. He would not fit in with the nobility, earnestness, joy and honour that is found in Narnia, and learned by its young human visitors,
I have seen a few of his films, and they are clever but quite different.
Narnia wouldn't really gain by association with him.
I notice that his real surname is Cohen, and no, he is not as zany as Sacha Baron Cohen (wouldn't like to see his name with a Narnia production either).

[ooh, just read this:
Waititi wrote the initial screenplay for the 2016 Disney film Moana,^[45] which focused on gender and family. Those elements were passed over in favour of what would become the finalised story.^[46]]

I have seen 4? of his films. They are all a lot of fun, but do tend to lean towards screwball comedy. That being said, he does sometimes balance it out with drama depending on the project. Jojo Rabbit has more than one scene that turns from humorous to devastating, and he did direct the season 1 finale of The Mandalorian, which was not very comedic.

I can see a scenario where he was approached to direct either one movie or a few episodes of a series since he is a popular director right now. I'm not sure how I would feel about it. He's a good director, but Narnia does seem to be outside his normal stuff.

Posted by: @rose

He's also already attached to write and direct two animated Roald Dahl series for Netflix (which seems like a much better fit for the type of stories he likes to tell) and that's on top of writing/directing a Star Wars movie for Disney, so I'll be surprised if he has time for Narnia over the next few years..

Also Thor 4, and presumably at least one episode of Mandalorian season 3. And possibly some of the Mandalorian spinoff shows since there will be crossover characters. He is very busy.

When I clicked on the IMDb link, it just showed me his bio, and I couldn't find anything about the rumor. 

Where did you find the source?

@the-mad-poet, The IMDb link was for people to see who he was, there was nothing about the rumor on that site.

To be honest, I don't remember where our news-posting sleuths found it. It certainly wasn't anywhere credible or else they would be trying to confirm and post a news story about it.

As I said above, this thread was just for fun in the very unlikely chance it did turn out to be true. 🙂

Posted by: @rose

I can definitely imagine the studio pursuing a director like Taika Waititi...he's a New Zealander,

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but why do you think they'd want a New Zealander specifically? I know Andrew Adamson was a New Zealander and I really enjoyed his Narnia adaptations but I don't see any connections between Narnia and New Zealand. I'd maybe imagine them doing an English or an Irish director, in keeping with C. S. Lewis' nationality.

Or for The Horse and his Boy, I can see them getting a Middle Eastern director since that might make it come across as less offensive the way the Western-esque Narnia and Archenland are portrayed as better than the Eastern-esque Calormen. After all, people don't mind as much when Western-esque cultures are portrayed negatively by a Western director. (Well, actually people are offended by that. Some people are offended by everything.)

Posted by: @col-klink

I hope this doesn't sound rude, but why do you think they'd want a New Zealander specifically?

I can't speak for @Rose, she may have a different reason altogether, but I think it's because New Zealand actually has Covid cases under control and they can kind of move forward with a NZ team. Several movie studios have started pursuing NZ for that very reason. 

@col-klink

Being a NZer doesn't make someone a good film director. I'd be hopeless,  for example!

I prefer your idea of English, for a Narnia series or movie.

If it all becomes several series of programmes, with different writers and directors, then perhaps they'd get Georgie Henley to work on an episode or two?  I just re-listened to the podcast interview with her, and she is enjoying writing and directing. 

I haven't seen any rumors about the director for the Narnia films from Netflix, but I'm sure it will be circling around the internet at some point. It's like rumors and speculations. One thought might be, "Oh, just speculating stuff." Another thought, "Oh, maybe that person is really is directing the movies."