If there’s one thing Hollywood loves doing even more than trying to create new franchises, it’s resurrecting old ones. And most of the time, that just means repeating the same story with a new cast and hoping the audience does the emotional work, right? But there’s one case that feels a little different, and not because it’s a story most people have forgotten, but because it’s been stuck in this frustrating “almost-franchise” category. It almost became a major cinematic hit, almost had consistent adaptations, and almost reached the same level as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. And what makes it even more annoying is that the original material always deserved better.
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This year, that story is making a major comeback, and what’s exciting is that it doesn’t feel like just another reboot in an endless lineup. For the first time in a long while, there’s a real sense that someone is actually trying to do the saga justice, with an actual plan behind it and not just the idea of releasing one movie and hoping it sticks. And considering we’re talking about an adaptation of a book series that has lasted through generations, that’s a big step forward.
The Chronicles of Narnia Can Finally Become a Proper Franchise
C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia is a true literary masterpiece that has already been adapted a few times, even if never completely. Most people tend to remember the Disney-produced films, but they never really moved forward, and, more importantly, they didn’t start in the best way possible. Now, with Greta Gerwig in charge and Netflix producing, a reboot is coming soon, and the most interesting part is that it won’t begin with the most famous book. Instead, the new cycle will kick off with The Magician’s Nephew, a choice that honestly makes more sense than it might sound at first.
In the story, we follow Digory and Polly, two children who get caught up in a dangerous experiment by Digory’s uncle and end up discovering a system of travel between worlds through magical rings. That adventure turns into something much bigger: the two witness the birth of Narnia, the creation of that universe, and, on top of that, the rise of the threat that will later define the franchise’s entire mythology. In other words, this story is literally the foundation of everything. If for years you only knew the saga through the movies and never understood how Narnia even existed, this time you’ll finally get answers.
The Disney films, especially The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, always felt like they were chasing a big epic moment before they had even built a real sense of world. They were fun, they worked as fantasy movies, and they had their strengths, but there’s no denying they never truly captured that blockbuster energy that shocks and wins over the masses. The result: no one hated them, but very few people actually loved them. They were never bad; they just were never special. And that’s why, even today, they rarely come up when people talk about the greatest franchises ever made.
But The Chronicles of Narnia deserves a second chance. It was never a weak story; it’s a classic, and readers are fascinated by it. Unfortunately, it was simply a matter of adaptation: it needed to be in the right hands, because when you think of Narnia, you think of something huge with a universe that has weight, mystery, and endless possibilities to explore. And that’s exactly why Gerwig’s involvement matters so much — it’s a clear sign that Netflix understands that bigger vision.
Gerwig isn’t the kind of director who operates on autopilot. She has style, she controls tone, and most importantly, she knows how to write characters with depth and meaning. What she did with Little Women, for example, proves she understands emotion and the core of the story she’s telling, without falling into melodrama. To this day, that film is remembered more fondly than previous adaptations because it delivered the right message in a strong approach for its time. And of course, Barbie speaks for itself — it was a movie no one believed could work. With it, Gerwig showed she can also take a highly commercial product and turn it into something with real personality. So imagine what she could do with the world of Narnia. That’s an entirely different level.
Why the New Reboot Could Be Promising
The Chronicles of Narnia doesn’t just need a competent director; it needs someone who understands what kind of story it really is. This is a universe built on morality, temptation, sacrifice, and growing up, and that can easily come off as outdated if it’s filmed without intelligence. The problem with previous adaptations is that they were afraid of that more serious side. They wanted to be a big adventure, but without really embracing what makes Narnia different from everything else.
And why does everything seem lined up for audiences to start dreaming again? Because The Magician’s Nephew is a story that can finally make the public see Narnia as something cohesive. If this movie works, it sets the stage for the adaptation everyone wants to see reimagined: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That book is the heart of the entire saga, but it has never gotten the flawless adaptation it deserved, maybe because it never had the ideal introduction leading into it. You can’t just grab the most famous part of the story without properly contextualizing it in a way that immerses the audience the way it should.
Disney’s 2005 film had strong moments, but it wasn’t unforgettable, and it never became a defining fantasy reference — and that’s a huge failure when you consider how iconic the book is. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe should be the kind of story that defines generations. So luckily, if everything goes right, it may finally receive the adaptation it deserves after all these years. Netflix owns the rights to the entire book series, and it has never been shy about making sequels if the results meet expectations. So presumably, the plan is to build this universe with ambition.
But it’s also important to point out that scale alone doesn’t solve anything. What will determine whether this reboot is a success or just another attempt is whether this first film can do what the previous ones never managed: create identity. The Chronicles of Narnia can’t be filmed as if it’s trying to imitate the most iconic sagas, or as if it’s trying to ride the epic fantasy wave just because that’s the image it has. Narnia doesn’t work like that. It’s stranger, more symbolic, and more emotional, and audiences will only connect if the film embraces that weirdness instead of polishing everything down until it feels generic.
There’s also another major factor working in favor of this new phase: today’s audience is far more used to dense stories and complex worlds in general. What might have once been seen as too difficult for several reasons can now be appreciated as layered storytelling — and Narnia has layers for days. This is a story full of magic, adventure, symbolism, and creatures, but it also deals with heavy themes like death, guilt, temptation, loss, and choices. There’s no shortage of substance here. If adapted well, it won’t just work as entertainment; it’ll spark discussion not only among longtime fans of the books but also among fantasy lovers across old and new generations. Even today, people still debate and build theories around The Lord of the Rings, don’t they?
So this comeback has everything it needs to be the first step toward the definitive adaptation Narnia has owed audiences for decades. If The Magician’s Nephew nails the tone and the world-building, the next natural step is to continue and revisit the core of the franchise with far more maturity, confidence, and less fear of staying faithful to what the original material truly is. And that’s when it becomes easy to imagine Narnia finally becoming what it always should have been: one of the greatest fantasy sagas in cinema.
The Magician’s Nephew is set to hit theaters on November 26, before arriving on Netflix on December 25.
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