A quick mod note:

While everyone is welcome to share their opinion on this rumor, please keep in mind the respect rule when speculating about the personal motives and/or values of public figures. Also, discussion of politics on NarniaWeb is banned, and that includes discussion relating to the political views of people involved with the production.

Just no. Please no. Aslan is not meant to have anything other than a male voice. He is a lion with a mane after all. Just no.

I am honestly leaning towards the fact that it is an April Fool's joke, but, I am frankly confused by the fact that half the people on X have not brought the date up at all.

It's almost like they want it to fail and this has confirmed their worst fears. In fact, It does not seem like they can be happy in least about the Narnia adaptation. People on there keep saying negative things againist it and no matter what news we have gotten about it does not seem to help dampen their fears or trepidation. 

I have to keep myself from responding to them on X, because I keep feeling like I have to defend the production. 

Frankly, if it were just me I would think this is a funny joke, but, since I see all the people on X just down on the Narnian production,  I am just upset that the joke came at this time during this year on the internet.

I mean… I can believe that Meryl Streep might have been approached for a role in Narnia, but this? Feels like someone is either misinterpreting info or just making stuff up.

First off, there’s zero reason to gender-swap Aslan. I’d be willing to hear someone’s argument for why this would work, but right now, it just sounds like a change for the sake of changing something.

But if we start hearing this from reputable sources… then I don’t even know what to say. 

@ellie  streep is a great actress ......but aslan has always been portrayed as a Lion  .....not a Lioness

and its 11 pm here in Aotearoa  ....the aprils fool thing is only up to mid day in my understanding

correction .. aslan was portrayed as a lamb in VDT  ....and a horse ....and a cat in The Horse and His Boy ?

please let me know if i'm mis remembering that

I just saw this come up on social media and immediately wrote it off as an April Fools' joke... Then I saw it said the article posted 15 hours ago, still 31st March (at least here), and I am a little wary. Mostly unconvinced, but wary.

Posted by: @rose

A quick mod note:

While everyone is welcome to share their opinion on this rumor, please keep in mind the respect rule when speculating about the personal motives and/or values of public figures. Also, discussion of politics on NarniaWeb is banned, and that includes discussion relating to the political views of people involved with the production.

Thanks for the reminder ☺️

If nothing comes of this, at least Netflix will know what the reaction would be like online if they were to consider a move like this. 

My impression is that it's most likely an April Fools joke or click-bate or something.  No doubt there are some who would like to gender-swap Aslan, but from what I've read of Greta Gerwig's comments, she appears to me to have more respect for the source material than to make such a dramatic change from the books that would likely cause disappointment and potential boycotting by some for a move that could be seen as political or agenda-pushing.  From Greta Gerwig's publicized comments about how she is approaching Narnia, I would be a little surprised if she were to make a casting decision like that one.

Some other thoughts about this news or rumour though.  I would agree with all the points @icarus raises as to why this decision is unlikely.  My thinking is that if she has been offered a role it is more likely to be Aunt Letty or Mrs Lefay.

That all said, some things that I did think - (1) the possibility of using a female voice, not necessarily changing the gender of the character but using a female voice and altering digitally or with AI or something to make more lion-like and to get certain tones etc., could be a reason for such a casting.  Also (2) As some others have said, a female Aslan who is otherwise faithful to the books would be better than a male Aslan who is not.

Assuming (hoping) this is just a dumb April Fools joke or fake news. If it somehow turns out to be true, that is the end of my interest in the movie. Wouldn't watch it, and would probably cancel Netflix permanently over it. It is that big of a deal. 

Maybe it's because I minored in theater (where there is a long tradition of actor and character not having the same gender), or my general admiration of voice actors (look up any compilation of actors who do primarily video games and cartoons, they can do amazing things with their voices), but a woman voicing Aslan is not an automatic no from me. That being said, if we are getting a woman I think I would rather have Rosamund Pike, or maybe Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Posted by: @pete

Some other thoughts about this news or rumour though.  I would agree with all the points @icarus raises as to why this decision is unlikely.  My thinking is that if she has been offered a role it is more likely to be Aunt Letty or Mrs Lefay.

Some of the previous casting rumours have been dismissed by people replying that:

1. The rumoured actor might be trying for a role, or asking their friend Greta for one.

2. The individual or webpage probably had little knowledge of characters in Narnia, especially this story, so they named the one or two they knew (from watching Walden movies?) 

This easily applies to the Streep rumour; she is a valuable talent, and could very well be up for a role. She is too old for the Witch, but could play a smaller role. Mrs Lefay, Aunt Letty (possibly also too old), a cameo in the London street, the Ketterleys' housekeeper? There are no major female voice characters in this film.

Posted by: @coracle

Some of the previous casting rumours have been dismissed by people replying that:

1. The rumoured actor might be trying for a role, or asking their friend Greta for one.

2. The individual or webpage probably had little knowledge of characters in Narnia, especially this story, so they named the one or two they knew (from watching Walden movies?) 

This easily applies to the Streep rumour; she is a valuable talent, and could very well be up for a role.

This definitely makes a lot of sense and sounds very possible, if indeed there is anything to the rumour at all. 

There are no major female voice characters in this film.

It did just occur to me that if they are going to do a gender swap, it wouldn't hurt the plot for Strawberry / Fledge to be female. (I've always thought Strawberry sounded more like a name for a she than a he, although I also assume it's meant to imply that his coat colour is strawberry roan — the traditional term for a chestnut with very fine white flecks, so that at a distance his coat looks pale reddish.)

Seriously, if they wanted to add an extra major female character on the "good" side — we only have two really central females as it is, Polly and Jadis, and one of those is pretty much the baddest of all baddies — Fledge is just about the one existing character whose gender isn't important to his (or her?) general nature and role in the story. A mare could definitely be a cab horse in Victorian London (anyone else here who loves Black Beauty will be thinking right now of poor Ginger), and naturally she could also be the sort of horse who would want to be part of this newly created world and to help Digory in his quest by becoming... the mother of all flying horses!!

(Hey, it's a long shot, but it's not impossible, and it's not quite as controversial as the purported Aslan gender swap...) 

Since there has been no retraction post April 1st (but still no corroboration from any other legitimate news site) I'm willing to upgrade my verdict on this rumour from 0% to maybe 2%.

It's still a really sketchy single source, with no primary evidence offered, and no independent verification possible, so I see no reason to go any higher than that for now.

Even then, the following points cover why I still have a hard time believing any of it...and if it were true, why I think it's such a bad idea...

1. It makes no sense from a casting perspective 

For the last few years, almost all of the Aslan discussion has revolved around ideas of making Aslan's voice, younger, deeper and rougher than Liam Neeson's fairly plainspoken normal voice. The general consensus has also mostly been towards British and Irish actors as well.

Meryl Streep by comparison is not only female, with a higher pitched voice, but also much older (75), American, and has one of the most eloquent well-spoken voices imaginable. Nothing about it says "Lion" or Lioness for that matter 

Meryl Streep also isn't particularly well noted for being a great singer, therefore i don't even buy the logic that she'd be good for Aslan singing... There are plenty of other actors with decent singing voices that are better than Streep in that regard.

Sure, they could heavily modulate the voice in post-production,.but then why even cast Streep in the first place?

2. It makes no sense from a Production Design point of view 

The most logical option is that a female voice equals a female lion. This obviously has major implications due to the fact that female lions don't have manes, and aside from all the plot issues that causes, I just can't buy the idea that they would discard their single biggest piece of popular culture iconography for no reason. Aslan with his radiant mane is literally the cover image for most of the collected edition books.

But I also don't buy the idea that they'd have a male lion with a female voice, as it not only makes the Production Team look clueless as to Lion Physiology (such as the DreamWorks movie "Barnyard" where they gave all the male cows Udders) but it doesn't then even allow them to make any thematic or narrative exploration on the idea of femininity, which just makes the whole thing even more pointless.

3. It makes no sense from a Business Perspective 

Everyone at Netflix and IMAX will have watched the unfolding situation at Disney with Snow White with horror. They will be desperate to ensure their investment doesn't become embroiled in huge controversy. There is just no way I can see them signing off on something like this especially given how many concessions they gave to Greta on the distribution deals.

Despite what some people may think, Hollywood isn't run by liberal creatives with agendas to push. It's run by wealthy billionaires who want to make money. The only reason Hollywood has been pushing diversity for.the last few years is because it helps to expand the market base.

As a white woman, Meryl Streep doesn't even offer you any diversity expansion in a movie which already has two female leads (Polly and Jadis) and in which Aslan is (technically) an African Lion.

Again, I just can't see any underlying logic there, from any perspective, no matter what your opinion of Hollywood is.

I think it is best for Aslan to be played by a middle aged or older man. The role demands some maturity, and an older actor would be best for the part and especially for Aslan’s voice. C. S. Lewis had written the character as a male, and Aslan should be portrayed that way. I am not familiar with the actress Meryl Streep, but I think she would probably be better in female roles.  For Narnia it is best to stay with the books and have a male actor play Aslan. 

@icarus I agree with everything you wrote except this.

Posted by: @icarus

For the last few years, almost all of the Aslan discussion has revolved around ideas of making Aslan's voice, younger, deeper and rougher than Liam Neeson's fairly plainspoken normal voice. The general consensus has also mostly been towards British and Irish actors as well.

That's been the consensus on Narniaweb and, honestly, even on Narniaweb it's been mostly just Glumpuddle who's been saying they should cast a younger voice actor for Aslan. (I can't remember anyone else saying that though that could just be my memory.) We don't know what Netflix's ideas are for any of the characters. Neither they nor Gerwig have actually said anything about them in interviews. 

I still can't shake the idea that this was an April Fool's joke though. That's just what makes the most sense.