It’s true that with a movie adaptation of a book that it’s difficult if not impossible to get every little detail into the project and make it clear just what the author was trying to get at, but even with TV series that can be kind of difficult. The reason why the Chronicles of Narnia make more sense as a TV series however is that it gives people a chance to catch up and really understand what’s going on since a lot of folks went into the movie having no idea what to expect at all, while those that had read the books knew what to hope for, but were kind of disappointed in a way since like it or not, very few movies based on books have ever managed to capture absolutely everything that needs to be said. In terms of this particular story there is a lot of material to cover, and the movies, despite being fairly well received when they came out, still didn’t please a lot of people given that they felt rushed and took out way too much material while changing a few things around that didn’t really need it. As Neeraj Chand of MovieWeb might agree though a TV series could leave a lot of room to explore and would likely take the audience through a much more extensive look of Narnia given that it would have a lot more time in which to do so.
It does sound as though Netflix is open to making this happen but at the moment are kind of dragging their feet, so to speak. The issue though is that with the shutdown still in effect, there’s no way for the studios to get back to work, meaning there’s no way for Netflix or anyone to start in on any new series or movies until the all clear is given. What this means unfortunately is that while an idea for the show is in place the development is extremely lacking at this moment as a lot of people might not see the point in moving forward with anything until it’s possible to do something with it. Of course developing story boards and and overall narrative might be a good idea, just so it’s ready before things start going back to what we perceive as normal, hopefully. For a classic tale such as this there would need to be a great deal of development and a lot of time spent in the writing room in order to make it pop and come to life as it needs to. The characters in the story are simply too important to the overall flow and narrative to mess around with, and while the movies were interesting in their own right they felt so jumbled at various moments that it was easy to think that someone had simply tossed the script in the air and then pieced it back together as well as they could.
In a way it also doesn’t help that the Chronicles of Narnia can’t really compete against the likes of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones when it came to both projects being so successful. CoN are a great collection of stories that have managed to capture the attention of readers long before J.K. Rowling and George R.R. Martin even thought to put words to paper, but it’s still evident that the tales of Narnia have been overtaken quite a bit in recent decades. With the right team working on the project to bring it to life there’s little doubt that CoN could possibly become a highly-revered show and something that people will be talking about after they’ve watched it, but at this time trying to get it off the ground is going to take a small miracle that a lot of other projects are hopeful for as well. Right now people aren’t talking too much about Narnia or anything related to it, but the big hope is that once things start getting back to where they need to be we’ll be able to hear more and more chatter on how Netflix is pushing this series forward and who will be cast in which parts. Ben Allen of RadioTimes has more to say about this matter. The casting, the writing, and of course the designs are going to take a while and it’s going to take a tremendous effort to get people to think of this as a series instead of a movie considering what’s already come out and how it’s been accepted.
It can be done, there’s no doubt of this, but the project is going to take a lot of finesse and a lot of patience on the part of those making it and those waiting for it to come out. All we can hope for at this point is that we’ll get to see it sometime next year at the earliest.
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