Matthew Aldrich Says Netflix Rejected His Vision to “Update” Narnia Series

In his first public remarks on his time as Netflix’s “Creative Architect” for The Chronicles of Narnia adaptations, screenwriter Matthew Aldrich opened up about his original vision for the series, the creative differences that led to his departure, and how Netflix’s decision ultimately set a new course for the project.

Aldrich’s Vision for Narnia

When Aldrich joined the project in 2019, he had a clear vision for adapting Lewis’s seven-book series. Speaking candidly on the Script Apart with Al Horner podcast, Aldrich revealed that he wanted to take a “respectful but not precious” approach to the material, aiming to “update it in some fun ways”.

“I had a very specific idea about what I wanted to do with the Narnia material. I had laid out for [Netflix] a strategy of film and series as a way to adapt the seven books,” Aldrich explained, “in a way that was both sort of respectful, but also not precious, you know, and try to sort of update them in some fun ways. And ultimately that’s not the direction Netflix wanted to go.”

Aldrich described his time working on the project as “uphill sledding.” While he avoided specifics, he noted that creative differences played a significant role in Netflix’s decision to move on from his vision.

“I hate using the words creative differences because it always sounds like a smoke screen, but it actually was creative differences.”

In a post on Threads, Aldrich responded to a critique of the books by a fellow reader, who noted how the Narnia books felt like a “jumbled ‘Land of Make-believe’ game board'” rather than a cohesive world. Aldrich echoed these frustrations, sharing his own experience of the unique challenges in adapting C.S. Lewis’s style of world-building.

“I worked on adapting Narnia for 18 months and I ran into the same walls [the poster] talks about—only he’s able to describe the walls; I merely smashed into them.”

“My only wish,” he also wrote on Threads, “is that folks would stop viewing the adapted category as inferior. It’s ******* hard to write an adaptation—in many ways harder— especially when there is an existing fan base with expectations.”

What’s Next?

Aldrich has moved on to a new project with Warner Bros and DC Studios, recently announced as the writer for Dynamic Duo, a family-oriented Batman and Robin story.

Since Aldrich’s departure, Netflix has set its sights on a new creative direction for Narnia with acclaimed director Greta Gerwig at the helm for at least two films.

 “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.”

Greta Gerwig, 2024

Here is everything we know about Netflix’s upcoming Narnia adaptations.