It could possibly go either way: Aslan as a male just voiced by an actress (I’ve seen animated movies or series where a male character is actually voiced by an actress) or the possible rumor of Aslan being changed into a female. But as nothing has been confirmed as of yet, I’m sure there are other actors out there that would be qualified to voice Aslan. Then there’s the challenge of getting Aslan right. Whoever voices him, getting him right should at least count for something.

Now, I haven’t had time to go back and read everything that’s been said, and someone may have already made this point, but isn’t it worth considering that all this back and forth about authorial intent, theology, and Christianity might be part of an intentional dialogue that Gerwig herself wants to engage in?

As we know, Lewis once described Aslan as “an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, ‘What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?’”

So, with that in mind, seeing Aslan not as a literal reproduction of Christ in every detail, but as an imaginative response to a theological question, what if Gerwig’s choice to portray Aslan with a female voice (or even form) is not a betrayal of Lewis’s intent, but a continuation of the imaginative experiment he began? Lewis invited us to explore what the incarnation might look like in another world. Gerwig may simply be offering another, perhaps more complex, answer for a new generation.

Probably no one can force Greta Gerwig to cast a male actor for Aslan or have him be a lion instead of a lioness. I guess it is all legal in the casting as far as Greta and Meryl Streep are concerned. The petition, which I have already signed, may encourage both of them to change their minds. They have the freedom to make the movie as they please, but many fans of the books may be disappointed in the film, which could affect its box office performance.