The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (2019)

Last we heard about The Chronicles of Narnia was in June of last year when Life of Pi and Finding Neverland scribe David Magee sent out a tweet to his private Twitter account saying that he completed a first draft of The Silver Chair after spending more than a year working on the project. It was an unofficial update, but a welcome one for fans of a franchise that seemingly expired quietly without a trace. Today, I’m happy to bring an official update on the progress of the film via producer Mark Gordon, who says Narnia is not only very much still alive, it’s experiencing a bit of a rebirth.

Gordon was on hand at the TCA winter press tour in anticipation his new CBS series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, and I took the opportunity to inquire about the status of the next Narnia sequel. Gordon confirmed that they’re in active development, and hoping to move into production in the near future.

We’re hoping to be able to make the movie very shortly. We’re very excited about it.

However, it seems that the next film won’t be a sequel at all, but the start of a new franchise entirely. Given the plot of The Silver Chair, the fourth book in the series, which takes places decades in future from where we last saw our heroes in 2010’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I also asked if we would see any of the original cast reprising their roles in the new film. The answer is a hard no.

No, it’s all going to be a brand new franchise. All original. All original characters, different directors, and an entire new team that this is coming from.

If the phrase “original characters” causes your hair to bristle, don’t worry, I asked him to clarify if these were entirely new character creations or existing characters in the Narnia mythology that have yet to get the movie treatment, and he confirmed the later. The new characters will come “from the world” of Narnia.

The rebooted angle doesn’t come as a total surprise. The Mark Gordon Company and The C.S. Lewis Company took over the rights from The Walden Group back in 2013, when they first announced plans for a Silver Chair adaptation, so it’s not surprising that the production companies would want to build something new instead of relying on the foundation of a franchise that was ultimately always a bit of an underperformer.

Though Gordon was reluctant to share details of their approach to the new script, it does leave some interesting questions to be answered. Presumably, Aslan will have to be recast. It’s hard to imagine a Narnia film without the iconic character, and especially The Silver Chair. The original story follows a wizened King Caspian (originated on screen by Ben Barnes) as he enlists the help of Aslan to find the missing Prince Rilian, Caspian’s son and only heir. Aslan recruits two English boarding school students, Eustace Scrubb (played by Will Poulter in Voyage of the Dawn Treader) and Jill Poole to help track down the prince and solve the mystery. It’s possible that Magee’s script is completely reinventing the approach to the classic C.S. Lewis narrative, and Gordon says he hopes to be able to talk about it more openly soon, but for now it’s hard to imagine they would remove their most iconic character from the proceedings.

UltimateMarvel wrote:So, is this supposed to be the 4th book? They're based on the books, right?

We haven't heard anything about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair since late April, when director Joe Johnston signed on. Sony hasn't issued a formal release date at this time, but the filmmaker put in an appearance at Paris Comic Con, where he not only confirmed that production will begin next winter, with prep work starting next July, but also that this will be his last movie as a director. Here's what he had to say, when asked during an interview if this will in fact be his last directorial effort, while also confirming the production schedule.

"That's the plan. It will take a couple of years to make the film as we won't be able to start shooting next winter in New Zealand, on the South Island, which will be summer down there. And post and the visual effects will take another year and it'll be 2019, and I think I'm ready to go do something else. I have a lot of dogs, and they demand long walks every day, in the country."

Barring a change of heart, The Silver Chair movie will mark the end of quite the iconic career. Joe Johnston got his start in 1977 as an effects illustrator and designer on the groundbreaking Star Wars: A New Hope, rising through the ranks to become an art director on both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He also served as a production designer on the TV movie spin-offs The Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: Battle for Endor, while serving as the art director on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. He got his start as a director in 1989 with Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and The Rocketeer in 1991. He went on to direct a diverse array of films, such as Jumanji, October Sky, Jurassic Park III, Hidalgo, The Wolfman, Captain America: The First Avenger and Not Safe For Work. We reported way back in 2013 that writer David Magee (Life of Pi) was writing the script, although it isn't known if other writers have come aboard since then. In a separate interview at Paris Comic Con, the director reiterated the production schedule, while teasing that it would be darker than the other Narnia movies.

"It's the fourth film in the series. It's a totally new, different studio. It's Sony and Mark Gordon Company. We are planning to shoot it in New Zealand next winter, so we'd probably start prep maybe in July and then shoot in the South Island of New Zealand. It's a little bit darker than the other Narnia films. I think The Silver Chair was the darkest of the books. It's classic literature, really. I think the work of C.S. Lewis is amazing, even though they were written for children, it's classic literature, and I just thought that this would be fun. I love New Zealand, too."

Tyger wrote:Joe Johnston can do better.

They should've filmed the movies in chronological order. They could still release them in book order, but ain't nobody got the balls to do all that.

Tyger wrote:I don't remember, I've never cared much for Chronicles but I remember the later books are all over the place with the timeline

WyldeMan wrote:

Tyger wrote:I don't remember, I've never cared much for Chronicles but I remember the later books are all over the place with the timeline

Why is it that every book franchise turned film franchise always seems to start with a book from the end of the series? It's 10 or 12 or 20 but never 1.

Rusty wrote:Because midway though a story is where the action begins. Enables viewers to get into it easy, and then when you've got a fanbase, you have source material for prequels.