Hi Libby, I can answer your question as to why I personally am feeling optimistic. Please understand, I am well aware that we could end up with a bad product here, but .... optimistic.
Previous LWW and PC
Walt Disney (Distributor) --> Walden Media (Production Company) --> Douglas Gresham (Executive Producer) --> Andrew Adamson (Director)
Anne With An E
Netflix (Distributor) --> Northwood Anne/Northwood Entertainment/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) --> Multiple Directors and Producers
Upcoming Narnia series
Netflix (Distributor) --> eOne (Production Company) -- Douglas Gresham (Executive Producer) -- Yet-to-be-hired Producers and Directors (I doubt Joe Johnston is still involved)
With LWW, Disney was very hands off, and it turned out to be the most popular by the majority of fans, and the most accurate to the book.
In the same way, Netflix is a very hands off company. They're like "Make the show and we'll pay for it and upload it!" so what they can be credited for is picking and choosing material to fund. That ranges from Anne with an E (generally disliked) to Series of Unfortunate Events (mixed reviews) to Stranger Things (generally loved). They paid for all of these, but as far as I'm aware, they really had little to do with the actual content. That was up to the producers and directors.
So, if eOne and Mark Gordon find a solid director (or directors?), we have high hopes that we'll end up with a really good product because there won't be as many "cooks in the kitchen" so to speak.
But the direction the discussion is heading in this thread needs to move to the
Netflix thread. This thread is for discussing the fact that all seven books are being made, instead of four. I apologize for not being more clear on the topic when I started the thread.