Netflix Adapting “Redwall” Children’s Fantasy Novels
As Netflix’s Narnia adaptations remain in development, the streaming giant has snagged another fantasy series…
Netflix will adapt the Redwall novels by Brian Jacques. Like Narnia, at least one feature film and a series are in the works. Patrick McHale (Over the Garden Wall) will write the film, which will be based on the first novel. No word on a release date. Read more.
This news comes just a few months after Netflix exec Tendo Nagenda said they wanted more “PG-level adventure films… family live action, fantasy, spectacle movies.”
The films and series approach seems to work better for this series, since there are apparently 22 novels in the series. I’m still not sure about Narnia since it’s only seven books and the Christian themes make me nervous about them expanding the material too much.
I feel like Narniaweb’s getting really desperate for headlines right now. (Please don’t take offense, guys. I still love this site.)
Hey, at least we got a cool mouse-with-a-sword picture out of this one!
I actually read all 22 books back in the day…the first one in particular remains one of my favourite novels of all time. I hope Netflix does it justice!
I guess it does make you wonder whether as Netflix expands out it’s portfolio of other fantasy adventure shows, such as this, or The Witcher, whether their appetite for Narnia will start to diminish?
After all, Narnia in any format would not come cheaply, so they would need to ensure that it is something that is really driving the subscription numbers up. Its not really something you do just as a “nice to have”.
I’ve have every novel in this series sitting on my shelf. I discovered them way back in the day when PBS produced an animated series for Redwall, Mattimeo, and Martin the Warrior. Those were decently well done, so Netflix could do a good job, if they have a mind to. Hopefully an animated series with small woodland creatures killing each other shouldn’t be too hard to mess up.
Wow, I remember the animated series made for the first three books when I was younger! It’s hard to believe it took this long to get another series.
What is your favorite Redwall story and which do think is the best?
Best: Mossflower
Favorite; Taggerrung
Hahahahaha yeah, really! There were a lot more mice in those stories than in Narnia, though I dare say Reepicheep would beat any of them in a fair duel. 😀
I had forgotten about Redwall decades ago; I read a few of the books and really liked them. I had no idea there were 22 (seriously? That’s a lot of stories!) and only made it through 2 or 3. They’re definitely more “PG-level” than Narnia, and they don’t have the Christian themes as I remember, but I was hooked. Ironically, I read the first Redwall book at my dad’s place, on the same balcony where I read LWW around the same time. Anyway, I have to admit I kind of want to see how Netflix handles this one. Not that it’s necessarily an indication of how they’ll do with Narnia (and I share some of your concerns about that) but you can only watch Merlin so many times… 😀
PS: “Just Queen, not High Queen” is an extremely cool nickname IMO! 🙂 Nice to meet you lol
“…getting really desperate…”
That’s a bit illogical.
NarniaWeb has posted about Netflix and fantasy adaptations before, even in very busy times. There are usually multiple reasons for them to make a post.
Well, it used to be that news items like this, about different projects from the creators of Narnia adaptations, were found under something called Word on the Street. They weren’t like the headlines you saw on the main page.