Netflix is set to kick off a brand-new era for the fantasy genre with the release of Greta Gerwig‘s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew next year, but there are some past mistakes others have made with The Chronicles of Narnia franchise that the streaming service needs to avoid. In 2005, Disney famously adapted The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the silver screen, with the multimedia conglomerate following up in 2008 with Prince Caspian and 2010 with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. While this is the Narnia book adaptation series we’re used to, there were others before it, believe it or not.
I’m excited to see whether (and if so, how) Netflix rewrites the rules of the fantasy genre with this new Narnia movie. However, there are more important issues to figure out first. Netflix’s Narnia deal aims to adapt all seven of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia books, and I’m hopeful they’ll do so. Annoyingly, Disney also had that same plan, but they were unable to follow through. The Silver Chair was supposed to be the fourth installment in this Narnia franchise, but it never happened. However, there is another adaptation of The Silver Chair out there, if you know where to look.
Disney May Have Abandoned Narnia’s ‘The Silver Chair,’ but the BBC Didn’t
Between 1988 and 1990, the BBC produced three TV serials that covered the events of four of The Chronicles of Narnia books: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. While this series didn’t get any further than The Silver Chair, unfortunately, at least the BBC managed to bring the story to life on the screen, unlike Disney.
But what exactly happened with the Disney franchise’s version of The Silver Chair? Interestingly, after Disney (20th Century Fox at the time) released The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, they decided to mix things up and adapt The Magician’s Nephew next. However, in October 2011, Walden Media’s contract with the C. S. Lewis estate expired, bringing Disney’s Narnia moviefranchise to an abrupt halt. In 2013, though, the Mark Gordon Company took over and announced plans for the fourth entry in the series, The Silver Chair. While we already know Disney wouldn’t have been involved in this adaptation, you can’t deny that their name would’ve always been connected to it, especially as they now own the rights to Voyage of the Dawn Treader following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
The Mark Gordon Company wanted to refer to The Silver Chair as the first title of a Narnia reboot, but at the same time, said it was the fourth installment of the already existing series. Despite announcing Joe Johnston would be directing the film in April 2017, The Silver Chair never seemed to make it out of development hell, and everything went quiet until Netflix’s announcement in October 2018. From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed nobody on the Narnia movies team was able to make a committed decision.
It’s frustrating that, after all those years, we never got a Disney/21st Century Fox/Mark Gordon Company movie of The Silver Chair, and it’s even more so now that we’ll have to wait several more years for Netflix to progress through the Narnia books until that point. However, perhaps Netflix could take note from the BBC, so the same mistakes made in the past aren’t repeated. The second serial, which aired in 1989, actually covers Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and this makes a lot of sense considering the storylines of those books.
The BBC’s serials aren’t perfect, but they are interesting and entertaining enough for both adults and children. They’re full of whimsy and layered with British humor. These serials also have a brilliant cast, including Doctor Who‘s Tom Baker as Puddleglum in The Silver Chair, and Barbara Kellerman, who portrays three different characters throughout the BBC series: the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Old Hag in Prince Caspian, and Lady of the Green Kirtle in The Silver Chair. The BBC’s Narnia adaptation serials can be found on YouTube nowadays, and they’re well worth a watch. Hopefully, Netflix won’t abandon The Silver Chair.
