The Chronicles Of Narnia Movies Ending Early Came With 1 Silver Lining

The last attempt we had at a series of The Chronicles of Narnia movies ended all the way back in 2010 with only three films completed, leaving four whole books untouched. Now, Greta Gerwig is at the helm of a new Narnia film series with a bold release strategy, with Netflix rumored to be in pursuit of an IMAX exclusive release. However, while Netflix’s promises to be a more all-encompassing version of the source material, there is at least one positive to Disney’s version remaining unfinished.

With screen adaptations typically adapting about half the literary series, there are thousands of questions about Narnia and how to faithfully bring this perennial children’s fantasy series to life. The previous Narnia films stopped too early to answer some of these, particularly the issue of how to handle the final book in the series, which catapults Narnia from a whimsical fantasy to a profound allegory. However, while this remains a pressing concern, the particular thematic problems posed by The Last Battle are uniquely difficult to interpret – perhaps making Disney’s failure to do so a blessing in disguise.

The Narnia Movies Ending Early Prevented Them From Attempting To Adapt The Last Battle

The Book Presents Several Problems

The Last Battle, the seventh and final book in the Narnia series, was published in 1956 and, true to its name, details the conflict that brought an end to the world of Narnia. In the timeline of the books, which is complicated due to the difference in how quickly time passes in Narnia relative to the Real World, this happens 2500 Narnian years (and 39 Real World years) after the events of Magician’s Nephew, which was the first book in the series chronologically but the sixth released.

The Narnia films from the 2000s never got to any of the material from the final books in the series, only managing to adapt the first three books (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader) before the Netflix deal was announced in 2018, drawing Fox’s plans to adapt book four, The Silver Chair, to a close. As a result, the film series, like every non-audio adaptation of Narnia to date, never had to figure out just how to turn The Last Battle into a coherent film.

Why The Last Battle Would Be Difficult To Sell As A Movie

It’s Not In Keeping With The Rest Of The Series

While the first six books of the Narnia series focus on children having adventures in a fantastical world, The Last Battle has a startling depth to it that not only gives it a tone unique within the series, but also shines an unsettling light on all the books before it. It literally ends with the land of Narnia scoured of all life and the revelation that the characters from the Real World died in a horrible train accident. However, their faith in Aslan gives them the privilege of an eternal paradise in a new “true” Narnia.

It’s no secret that The Chronicles of Narnia as a series is heavily influenced by author C. S. Lewis’ religious beliefs, and that the lion Aslan is an allegory for Jesus. It follows then that The Last Battle, which depicts Narnia falling to the worship of a false god, a foreign army slaughtering innocents, and the end of the world and death of all except Aslan’s faithful, contains some unsubtle religious allegories. Setting aside the cultural and literal implications of those allegories still leaves the question of how to show a Revelations-esque apocalypse in a nominally family-friendly film.

The Last Battle shows that the Narnians are slaughtered en masse by the Calormene invaders, that the Pevensies and their friends all died in the Real World (and that Susan Pevensie, who died with them, doesn’t get to go to Narnia because she was too obsessed with wearing lipstick), and that any surviving Narnian without enough faith in Aslan is left to a horrible, lonely fate as Narnia freezes over. It’s no wonder The Last Battle has inspired decades of literary and theological analysis, but that means that a successful film adaptation of it will require a very careful hand.

Greta Gerwig’s Remake Must Approach The Final Narnia Book With Care (Assuming She Gets To That Point)

It Is Possible To Make A Great Last Battle Movie

Greta Gerwig has set herself a lofty goal by taking the helm of the Netflix Narnia films. While her qualifications are unquestionable, having directed three major motion pictures, including 2023’s hit Barbie, and has won innumerable awards as an actor, director, and writer, adapting the whole of Narnia would be a challenge for even the most experienced filmmaker. Hopefully, Gerwig will bring her heartfelt directorial style to the Narnia films — and hopefully, it will help create a consistent tone that gives them the cultural inertia to succeed and give her a chance to make it to The Last Battle.

Assuming the film gets made, having it be successful will require a very delicate balance of remaining faithful to the text while understanding that said text is steeped in the time and place where it was written, namely England in the wake of the Second World War. That context, unfortunately, means several major plot and setting elements of the book feel dated at best, and openly offensive at worst.

The antagonists of The Last Battle, the nation of Calormen, are a shallow Islamophobic stereotype of the Turkish Empire of the 1920s. Susan’s death and lack of redemption happen entirely outside the narrative, condemning a central and beloved character with consequences she was never warned of and stripping her entirely of any agency. These aspects would be unthinkable in a children’s film based on a newer property, but since they are intrinsic to The Last Battle, they will have to be considered thoroughly before hopefully being discarded.

While adapting any media from one form to another is a difficult undertaking, Netflix and Greta Gerwig have a lot of work ahead of them as they try to bring The Chronicles of Narnia to life. There is likely no way to make a textually faithful adaptation of The Last Battle as a successful film in the modern era, which means changes will have to be made, and with changes come potentially dissatisfied viewers. Hopefully, Gerwig has a vision of what changes will best serve the spirit of the story, even if the details need to be changed.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia is a fantasy franchise based on the seven-book series written by C.S. Lewis between 1950 and 1956. The series is set in the magical world of Narnia, where children from our world are transported to fulfill prophecies, battle evil forces, and restore peace under the guidance of Aslan, a mystical lion. The franchise has seen multiple adaptations, including a BBC television series in the late 1980s, three major Hollywood films between 2005 and 2010, and an upcoming reboot by Netflix, which has generated significant anticipation. The franchise is beloved for its rich allegorical storytelling, blending Christian themes with epic fantasy elements.