Greta Gerwig says that she wrote a draft for her upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia adaptations before she started working on Barbie.
Speaking with Time Magazine, Gerwig discussed laying the groundwork for her upcoming Narnia movies prior to 2023’s Barbie began filming.
“Knowing that I’d laid the groundwork for Narnia and wanted to return to it—that’s probably something I set up for myself psychologically,” she said. “Because I know the right thing, for me anyway, is to keep making movies. Whatever happens, good or bad, you’ve got to keep going.”
Gerwig also said about adapting C.S. Lewis’ books, “It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions. As a child, you accept the whole thing—that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.”
What do we know about Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movies?
In July 2023, Gerwig signed a deal with Netflix to write and direct at least two movies based on Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
She told BBC Radio 4 Today about the project in January 2024, “I’m slightly in the place of terror because I really do have such reverence for Narnia. I loved Narnia so much as a child. As an adult, C.S. Lewis is a thinker and a writer. I’m intimidated by doing this. It’s something that feels like a worthy thing to be intimidated by. As a non-British person, I feel a particular sense of wanting to do it correctly… it’s like when Americans do Shakespeare, there’s a slight feeling of reverence and as if maybe we should treat it with extra care. It is not our countryman.”
It’s not immediately clear which Narnia novels Gerwig — who previously made 2017’s Lady Bird and 2019’s Little Women prior to Barbie — plans to adapt for Netflix. The movies do not yet have a release date.