The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven books written by CS Lewis that built a vast mythology with a richly defined world and characters to rival those of his friend and pier JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth series. At the heart of the series lies Narnia, a mystical fantasy world filled with curious creatures, and is explored by the four more curious Pevensie children: Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter. Their adventures take them through Narnia as more of the unusual other world is revealed to them.
While many have heavily speculated that the series is a metaphor for the teachings of the Catholic Church, Slate published an article stating that Narnia was more than just a Christian allegory, and Lewis, after writing them, clarified that: there was no intention to make the series come across as religious rhetoric because it was categorized in the fantasy genre, but welcomed any speculation made by its readers.
A stunted series of films was adapted from Lewis’ septet of novels and was intended to work through each book chronologically. 2005, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe debuted in theaters and was later followed by Prince Caspian in 2008. The Journey of the Dawn Treader was the third and final novel adapted for the cinematic retelling before the ongoing series ground to a halt. The fourth film, which was first announced as The Chronicles of Narnia: The silver chairwas consequently canceled after the collapse of the film series altogether.
Updated September 25, 2022: This article has been updated to include more information about: The Chronicles of Narnia franchise history and the status of the series since its acquisition by Netflix.
It was later announced that Netflix would take the responsibility of rebooting the series for the streaming service, but news of their upcoming projects was meager. While the streaming giant’s forthcoming approach to Chronicles of Narniahere’s a look back at why The silver chair filming never happened.
What happens in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair?
The silver chair reunites Caspian with his estranged son Rillian, and Caspian dies shortly after the two are reunited. Rilian is called the new king of Narnia, although the story really follows Eustace Scrubb and his friend, Jill Pole, when she is first introduced to Narnia. Their mission was initially to rescue Rilian after being sent on their journey by Aslan. Before Price Rilian is pronounced dead, it is Scrubb and Pole who encounter the imprisoned Prince and the Silver Chair himself, to which he is bound. The two are caught freeing him by the Lady of the Green Kirtle, who reveals herself as the Green Witch. Her ability allows her to transform into a green creature resembling a snake, and she is later killed by Rilian.
After Rillian is named the new King of Narnia, Scrubb and Pole return to Aslan’s Country, where they are greeted by a revived, rejuvenated Caspian Sea. At the end of the novel, they are then sent home to England. The silver chair was the fourth novel in the Chronicles of Narnia series published, but the sixth story in the franchise chronology.
Why didn’t the silver chair come?
Significant drop in box office revenue, signaled to filmmakers between each film in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise shifted the studio’s plans. Instead of adjusting The silver chairwhich was the next book published in the series, the studio chose to look instead at a prequel with an adaptation of The Wizard’s Nephewalthough the idea was suppressed after Walden Media acquired the rights to Chronicles of Narnia in 2011.
In 2013, it was announced that a new film would be developed, an adaptation of The silver chair. While production is on The silver chair looked promising at first after Captain America director Joe Johnston signed on to lead the project in 2017, but development ultimately lagged. The cast expected to reprise their roles were outside of their respective characters’ age ranges, which would require an all-new cast to pick up where the others left off. For this reason, The silver chair was intended to be a reboot of the Narnia franchise and probably wouldn’t feature cast members from the original film series, including Liam Neeson as Aslan. Indeed, Johnston’s notification was the last update to surface after some pre-production work from The silver chair before 2018 when it looked like the franchise’s future was shifting.
It was announced that Netflix is de Chronicles of Narnia franchise and looking to develop movies and television series around the property. This development seemed to be the nail in the coffin for The silver chair film, because there was no expressed desire to proceed with recovery The silver chair after complications arose when attempting to schedule the fourth film.
Why did the Narnia movies fail?
although The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe performed well in theaters, the fate of the Chronicles of Narnia film series slowly marched to its own demise. The film series struggled with consistency when looking for a studio to bear the weight of the ever-emerging cinematic universe. The saga lost its footing as it tried to navigate the third film, The Journey of the Dawn Treader after Disney pulled out of the project and it was later handed over to 20th Century Fox (though they now own the rights to the entire trilogy now that Disney takes over 20th Century Fox).
When The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe hit theaters in 2005 it was a big hit for Disney. The film was the second highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 2005, even beating Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. With a strong box office and six more books to adapt, it looked like Disney had found a new franchise they could rely on for years to come.
However, unlike Harry Potter or later franchises such as Twilight and The hunger GamesDisney didn’t quite strike while the iron was hot and instead of having a sequel ready for the following year, there was a three-year gap between the release of the first film and the second, 2008’s Prince Caspian. With a long gap between sequels and the series going from a holiday release to a summer release date, where it had to compete with both Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the unexpected hit of Iron Man, Prince Caspian struggling to find an audience. By the time The Journey of the Dawn Treader was released, it seemed like enough audience had jumped.
One aspect that is often overlooked is the fact that the studios may have overestimated Narnia ownership. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a hit movie because it was an adaptation of a much-loved book that many people read as children, but for many it is the only entry in the franchise that they know of. unlike Harry Potter, Lord of the Ringsor twilight, this was less of a franchise in the eyes of the general public and more like a single book. The Chronicles of Narnia movies were asked to compete directly with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potterboth of which had the benefits of higher budgets and a more devoted fan base. Chronicles of Narnia couldn’t find a niche that would eagerly commit to the franchise as intensely as other fantasy series. There was poor marketing and little buzz around any sequels. A lack of demand from a fandom led to the failure of the Chronicles of Narnia movies, but hopefully that way the franchise can find a new life as a television series A series of unfortunate events did.