‘Narnia’ Filming May Be Delayed Until Fall, Report Says
Film industry website ScreenDaily is reporting that filming on Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie might not be able to start until later this Autumn.
Producer Amy Pascal had previously announced that filming would start sometime in July, and the initial children’s casting call had supported this, listing a June to December availability period (inclusive of rehearsal time).
However, in recent weeks, the NarniaWeb news team have picked up on a number of potential indicators suggesting a possible delay in filming. These developments lend more credibility to the new report from ScreenDaily.
That said, it’s still possible filming could begin as early as August at Shepperton Studios in the UK.
Netflix has partnered with IMAX for an exclusive two week theatrical window (marking a first-of-its-kind deal for the streaming company) for Gerwig’s Narnia to debut on Thanksgiving 2026, ahead of its release on Netflix at Christmas. Filming will need to get underway soon in order to meet that target.
Looking for all the news about Netflix’s Narnia? Here’s everything we know.
It wouldn’t be a complete surprise considering the lack of leaked pictured of set builds but I’m not as convinced as others that we’re in for much of a delay.
likely mid july, emma macky’s working on j j abram’s Project, so that holding them up
If there is to be a delay in filming, I don’t think it’s going to be a massive delay. It could be down to something as simple as waiting on Emma Mackey’s availablity (she is currently shooting another film in Scotland for JJ Abrams).
That said, as ImpendingDoom said above, we just haven’t seen any of the key indicators I would have expected to have seen by now if filming were due to start in the first week of July (though to be fair, Amy Pascal only ever said “July” not necessarily the start of July).
Too much longer and I fear the special effects will start to suffer… hopefully not too long of a delay.
I’m starting to think this is going the way of that Joe Johnston Silver Chair movie.
Netflix and Gerwig have invested too much time and money for this to be simply be cancelled like The Silver Chair movie but I do think there’s a chance they have to rush now to meet their announced IMAX release date.
Thanksgiving/Christmas is the best time to release a Narnia movie. They learned this with Prince Caspian when it didn’t do well in the summer blockbuster movie season. So if it is delayed past December 2026, I am not sure when they would decide to release it. It might not sell as well. I guess the next best IMAX window after Thanksgiving would be Christmas/NY itself. that at least gives them 2 to 4 weeks extra to finish the movie.
This movie will 95% still go ahead. This is much farther in the pre-production process than Joe Johnston’s Silver Chair movie got to.
December release is unlikely due to Avengers and Dune and the IMAX Dates are already fully booked. Dates before and after are booked too with certain films so the Thanksgiving date must stand , the film may go into production in September or late August, and still finish in December, but the child working hours and dealing with first time performers may lengthen production and Emma is shooting a JJ film now , and Daniel will be shooting a Damien Chazelle prison film in autumn, but this will also be Greta’s biggest film with far more vfx, that needs the critical and audience success to garner enough momentum to launch the adaptation of the other 6 books so taking more time is good. But she also has Jay Kelly that Noah will be promoting for the next 6 months so I’m not sure about the how that will affect either. But at least Seamus McGarvey gets over 6 moths of preproduction, and Greta gets over a yr to prep the film which isn’t common at all. Worst case scenario, this is a Ava DuVernay’s WRINKLE IN TIME, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender
Maybe there’s a huge fight going on over the voice and portrayal of Aslan… 😉
I think the recordings can still happen in July, but probably not at the beginning of the month.
Ugh. I wonder if there’s some internal rearrangements going on. *cough cough* like recasting Aslan*cough cough*
I was starting to wonder if filming was delayed based on the lack of more substantial news, especially with the casting of the children. Pre-production is a very busy time and I’m not seeing enough news that makes it clear they’re ready to start production. They’ve already announced the cast for a new Harry Potter and I don’t think they’ve started filming yet.
@Cleander To the extent that the casting of Aslan is partly responsible for a delay— and I’m not saying it is— I suspect it’s more likely because the approximately two month filming of The Devil Wears Prada 2 began this week, and not because Aslan is being recast.
Narnia Magicians Nephew directed by Gerta Gerwig is the worst miscasting ever, I’m not happy with Greta Gerwig wanting to make Narnia Magicians Nephew all about rock and roll and gender swapping Aslan into a woman. [MODERATOR REMOVED] This will be exactly like The Cat in the Hat 2003 film, Artemis Fowl 2020 film Peter Pan and Wendy 2023 film which I would rather forget about. I won’t even watch Narnia Magicians Nephew at Imax theaters or on Netflix. This will be the worst Narnia adaptation ever unless they change course and abandon the rock and roll themes and quit gender swapping male Alsan. I would rather have a diverse brown or black man voicing Aslan like with James Earl Jones from The Lion King but he passed away, so it’ll have to be someone else that’s a man. I won’t support Meryl Streep voicing and playing Aslan the lioness or any other woman voicing Aslan. It has to be a man voicing Aslan or I’m not giving Narnia The Magicians Nephew 2026 film a chance.
At this point I think they should fire Greta Gerwig and get someone else to film Narnia. Or better yet, Netflix should give the Narnia rights to a Japanese Anime studio and have them make an Anime version of Narnia. Live Action CGI films are outrageously too expensive with millions and millions of dollars to make. I would rather have an Anime 2D or CGI cartoon version of Narnia films instead. I’m mostly tired of live action book to film adaptations as I have live action book to film fatigue. I would also like a comic book of 7 Narnia books instead. For now I’d rather watch the 4 BBC Narnia TV series 1988-1990 which includes the Silver Chair and 3 Narnia films 2005-2010 though I haven’t forgiven them for cancelling The Silver Chair remake. But there’s always the 7 Narnia books which I’ll read instead.
Meryl Streep is currently filming the Devil wears Prada sequel, which may be why they have pushed back Narnia filming.
You don’t delay filming for a voice actor who isn’t required on set and can record all needed dialogue in less than a week. Liam Neeson said he recorded his lines for ‘Dawn Treader’ in only a couple afternoons…
That doesn’t mean Streep isn’t voicing Aslan, it’s becoming increasingly likely she is involved in some way, it just has nothing to do with this delay 🙂
I would rather them take longer to start filming than rush the project. It has been many years since a Narnia movie came out and it’s not like we have to worry about the children growing up faster than they can make the movies since they haven’t started filming yet.
I will pray for wisdom for Gerwig and Netflix.
Tbh… this doesn’t seem like a big deal. I feel like most of the coverage and reaction (elsewhere on the internet) is from people who are just looking for hate clicks. They’ve just pushed filming out a month or two out – it’s not like the release date was delayed.
Just make the best movie possible. Delaying filming a couple months is nothing when we’ve been waiting years for this movie!
Not to seem callous, but GOOD. Gives them time to get rid of Meryl Streep and get a proper casting choice.
Could it also be that it’s delayed because Streep is playing a woman/human and needs to be on set?
Hopefully Netflix will do us a favor and make an announcement of sorts whenever filming begins so we can stop worrying if this is going to happen or not!