Netflix has an upcoming fantasy franchise that is going to make HBO’s Harry Potter look small in comparison. The Harry Potter series for HBO still doesn’t feel real. Ever since the films came out, there have been discussions about how the breadth of the books would be better served by a TV series.
Now we’re getting it, and HBO is probably expecting, not without cause, to have a fantasy production with the scope and fandom of Game of Thrones, its previous culture-shaping fantasy series. However, Netflix is not going to give up being the center of pop culture without a fight.
Netflix will debut Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew in theaters on February 10, 2027, the first Netflix original movie to receive a wide theatrical release. That alone should tell you the confidence Netflix has in the project, helmed by Greta Gerwig, who is currently signed on to direct at least two Narnia films for the streamer.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is actually the sixth book in C.S. Lewis’ seven-book children’s fantasy series, but it’s a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the first, chronologically, in the story. The world of The Chronicles of Narnia is massive. Even if Harry Potter‘s franchise is bigger, Lewis’ fictional universe dwarfs it.
With the end of Stranger Things, Netflix is also looking for its next big franchise, and it’s little wonder they’ve gone with The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that did once challenge Harry Potter‘s dominance of the pop culture space back in 2005 when Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered alongside Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Netflix has been known to struggle with its fantasy series, frequently ending them just as they get going, but in the last couple of years, Netflix has bucked the trend of being a slash-happy streamer. Their selection of Gerwig is inspired, and she could be the perfect creative force to launch a challenger to Harry Potter.
Netflix’s The Chronicles Of Narnia Will Be So Much More Expansive Than Harry Potter
The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter are both fantasy series, centered on children with increasingly grander and darker stakes as the series goes on. The Chronicles of Narnia offers a much bigger universe than Harry Potter, however, and is more comparable to The Lord of the Rings than it is to J.K. Rowling’s book series.
The story is set primarily within one world, Narnia, but Narnia is not like our world, and the realms and ages of the fantasy land are grander than any character initially imagines. Harry Potter sometimes feels claustrophobically small, only taking place in one school and one country, with some exceptions in later books and spinoffs, but The Chronicles of Narnia universe feels never-ending.
Netflix’s Narnia Will Benefit From Adapting The Prequel First
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most well-known of Lewis’ books and is standalone enough that you can get away with reading it and not diving into the rest of the series, though you really should. It’s a bit odd to hear that Netflix will be adapting The Magician’s Nephew first.
The sixth book in the series is dense with lore and magic and mystery as it explains the creation of Narnia and suggests the existence of even more magical universes. For a new generation of fans, though, some of whom may have tragically never been exposed to The Chronicles of Narnia, everything will be completely new. An adaptation like The Magician’s Nephew could be a great way to orient fans to a new universe of storytelling.
- Release Date
-
February 12, 2027
- Producers
-
Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Rachel O’Connor
Cast
-
-
-
Carey Mulligan
Mabel Kirke
-
David McKenna
Digory Kirke
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
