Kait Mae

As a lifelong fan of Narnia – both books and movies – I always wondered how I would have adapted it if given the chance. And with Greta Gerwig and Narnia set to reboot them and “start with the first book” (still unconfirmed if they’re talking about publication or chronological), now’s the perfect time to make a hypothetical adaptation. So, here’s how I would make a Narnia show.

Yes, I Said Show

As much as I adore the movies and love to rewatch them, if I were to adapt the series, I’d make it a television series that follows the books chronologically. That stated, we’d start with The Magician’s Nephew since we still haven’t gotten an adaptation of it outside of two plays in the 80s and 2005, radio shows, and a television episode dedicated to reading the book in American Sign Language (ASL).

After The Magician’s Nephew, we’d get The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe following the Pevensie siblings’ first trip to Narnia.

Then, The Horse and His Boy would be the third season, with Prince Caspian as the fourth. After, the remaining three novels – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair,and The Last Battle would round out the last three seasons in that order.

Each episode would be about 30 to 45 minutes, with a season having 13 to 20 episodes. This just feels right for the beloved series.

The “Aesthetic”

I would want to bring in the same aesthetics as the three movies everyone is pretty familiar with.

I loved the costuming and special touches the entire crew put into the first movie. Jadis had an amazing story to tell with just her clothes – and I’d want to do that in my adaptation as well.

I’d want everyone who came from our world to Narnia to have clothing that fits in with the time period they lived in. But the Narnian costuming would need to pull high fantasy elements – think Vikings meets Lord of the Rings for the first book before losing the Viking edge when winter disappears.

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Who Would I Cast

Finally, let’s get to casting – and I’m starting in chronological order. And note that I’m trying to avoid reusing actors from the movies.

For Digory Kirke as a child, I think Matthew Illesley would be perfect. He looks like I imagined Digory when reading the book, and he has a few acting credits that show his range so far. As an adult, I think Andy Serkis is the perfect choice for the owner of the Wardrobe.

For his uncle, Andrew Ketterly, I think Peter Capaldi is the only person who could capture the eccentricity of the magician.

Digory’s new friend, Polly Plummer, should be played by Pixie Davies. She is around the same age as Matthew and has several credits that show she can handle the large role.

As for Jadis, the White Witch, she’ll need to have an otherworldly feel, so Rebecca Ferguson is who I picture. She could easily portray the character for a few seasons – especially because she doesn’t seem to age like Jadis.

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When it came to Aslan, I completely discarded looks and went for voices that felt like Liam Neeson’s in the movies—commanding but comforting. I could only narrow it down to two actors – Idris Elba and Sean Bean.

Moving on to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe – let’s cast the Pevensie siblings. I went two directions with this based on how production would want to do this.

For the first sets of siblings, I went with Sedona Fuller, Billy Jenkins, Natasha Raphael, and Jackson Robert Scott as Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter, respectively.

For the second set, I went with Ellie-Mae Siame, Oscar Coleman, Makenzie Lee-Foster, and Kenyan Sandy as the siblings we all know and love (in order from youngest to eldest).

Moving on to The Horse and His Boy, I narrowed down Shasta’s actor to two – Charlie Price and Hector Bateman-Harden. Both actors have played characters that I could see being similar to Shasta.

As for the horse in the book, I went in two directions for his voice. If we’re going with a younger voice, Callum Booth-Ford sounds great; for an older voice, I think Thomas Brodie-Sangster would be perfect.

Moving on to Prince Caspian, the titular prince would either be played by Woody Norman or James Harper-Jones. Both have credits that show they could handle the role, but it just depends on how old production wants him to look because James looks older than Woody does currently.

Eustace Scrubb first shows up in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so let’s cast him next. I narrowed it down to two choices depending on which set of Pevensie siblings we go with. For the first set, Roman Griffin Davis is perfect; for the second set, Christopher Farrar would be great.

Eustace’s friend Jill Pole – who we never got to meet in the movies but see in The Silver Chair – should be played by either Megan Liu or Cara Bossom. Both characters have the looks and credits to pull off the role spectacularly.

And lastly, let’s cast Tirian, the protagonist of The Last Battle and descendant of Caspian. For his casting, I narrowed it down to two actors depending on which way the production team wanted to go. First, we have Samuel Joslin, who looks younger but is the right age for the character. Second, I chose Jacob Anderson, who is a bit older-looking, but he proved he could handle the role through his work on Game of Thrones and Interview with a Vampire.

If you were in charge of casting for Narnia, who would you choose?