Why ‘BBC Narnia’ Never Adapted The Last Battle: Director and Cast Speak Out in New Documentary
The BBC considered ending its Chronicles of Narnia television series with an adaptation of The Last Battle, according to a brand-new retrospective documentary, Return to Narnia, released as part of a Blu-ray remaster of the original 1988 to 1990 series. The classic series adapted the first four Narnia books across three six-part productions.
Director Alex Kirby, who helmed the amalgamated Prince Caspian / The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as well as The Silver Chair, revealed that he and producer Paul Stone had conversations about the possibility of adapting The Last Battle. However, the scale and ambition of the story quickly made it clear that it would be unachievable for the BBC at the time.
Paul Stone and I had a conversation about ‘The Last Battle’. I read it very carefully and it was just a step too far. It’s extreme fantasy.
Alex Kirby
Kirby went on to share that they quickly turned their attention towards another classic of children’s fantasy literature:
… and then Paul did go off to see Christopher Tolkien with a view to doing ‘The Hobbit’, and he met Christopher Tolkien in the south of France, and was quite astounded because Christopher had no television set, wasn’t aware of anything that the BBC… even existed! So wasn’t at all interested in letting ‘The Hobbit’ go. But it’s a shame really, because I think we could have done ‘The Hobbit’ justice.
Alex Kirby
Although development on a concluding adaptation of The Last Battle likely never progressed past those initial discussions, the cast of the show seemed well aware of the potential for a fourth series, which would have seen all four Pevensie siblings reunited. Their reactions in Return to Narnia however suggest mixed feelings:
Richard Dempsey (Peter): There was talk at one stage, wasn’t there, about them doing ‘The Last Battle’
Sophie Cook (Susan): There was yeah!
Johnathan Scott (Edmund): …and we all come back together.
Sophie Wilcox (Lucy): … I’m quite pleased we didn’t do that.
Richard Dempsey (Peter): Well we would have been quite old!
Sophie Wilcox (Lucy): Well exactly! […] Like I was 15 at the end. I kind of feel like, you know, we needed to go and be teenagers.
However, David Thwaites, who played Eustace in both Dawn Treader and Silver Chair, and is now a successful film producer in Hollywood, expressed a degree of sadness that The Last Battle never got made:
It was a great experience and it was sad that it was ending, because it didn’t feel to me like it was realistic that ‘The Last Battle’ was going to be made.
David Thwaites (Eustace)
For more stories from behind the scenes of Narnia adaptations, listen to our interview with ‘Caspian’ actors Samuel West and Ben Barnes.
Would you have liked to see the BBC attempt an adaptation of The Last Battle, or was director Alex Kirby right that it would have been “a step too far”?
Trying to picture British children in 1991 turning on the television and then having to witness all the talking horses be killed violently. Or seeing a giant demon god haunt the Narnians… it’s not hard to see why the BBC decided against it 😉
“The Last Battle” is the Narnia book that terrifies Modernity. It is here where Lewis shows his full colours as a Traditionalist and launches a blazing condemnation of all things modern, including pointed attacks on the writings of Joseph Campbell. Today, this novel is more red-hot and dangerous than ever. We will never, ever, ever see a screen version of “The Last Battle”.
What about the other two books they didn’t adapt? I mean, I can imagine practical reasons why they wouldn’t adapt them but, unlike The Last Battle, it sounds like they didn’t even discuss the possibility.
Just as a comment on the documentary itself – it is, as expected, thoroughly delightful and super interesting, especially for anyone with hugely nostalgic feelings towards the BBC productions.
In fact, even at a staggering 2 hours long, the only real criticism I could give is that it wasn’t even longer, as there was so much stuff I wanted to know more about.
I would like to see a production company with the guts to film “The Last Battle”. As a poster implied earlier, it is the most transparent of all the Narnia books. Readers know that it characterizes the New Testament’s Revelation of St. John. Those who take Christianity as a faith and not merely as a culture will see the antichrist functioning in the chimp or monkey. I believe the book resembles too much of our world right now to be comfortable, and granted, that is enough to make people nervous. But in the end, its still just one man’s opinion of how the world ends.
Well, with regards to BBC not continuing with the last 3 Narnia books, chalking it up to budget issues kind of misses the point; If a book is popular and/or non-controversial, BBC would make an adaptation. My opinion is that they already proved it could be done, with 4 low-budget Narnia stories on-screen. Also The Hobbit is way more difficult to adapt on a shoe-string budget than Last Battle. I think the main reason they did not continue was because the The Horse and His Boy was going to be skipped: The studio didn’t want to make it. They thought the Calormens were racist stereotypes yada yada. Then they couldn’t get Barbra Kellermen back for The Magician’s Nephew, even though she had worked with them thrice already. Maybe budget issues is the ‘official’ reason why the chronicles were not completed, but it was more likely they had no intention of adapting all 7 books, and instead made as many as was convenient for the studio.
But whyyyyyyy didn’t they do The Horse and his Boy and The Magician’s Nephew? Even ending it at the beginning would have at least brought everything full circle.
My 6 year old daughter has asked me about 100 times why there is no TV/film/stage version of the Last Battle, and whether anyone will ever make one.
We wouldn’t have had to see the talking horses killed, we could have seen the reactions of others. The Pevensies are not in it much compared to Jill and Eustace. I don’t think any production would feel perfect of The Last Battle, but I wish the BBC had tried. They would have had a better chance of it not being interpreted as a political statement like it would be today if they keep the Calormenes dressed like the illustrations.
The BBC versions are something I still enjoy. I’m grateful to the people who spent their time working on them. I really liked how the BBC did Underland. And I like their Dawn Treader ship better. The series captured more of the joy in Narnia that was cut to add dramatic tension in the Disney/Walden/Fox version. Mr. &Mrs. Beaver were so lovely. It must have been really hard to work in those costumes, but you could tell their emotions and they were good at pretending to be beavers.
This is off topic, I guess, but it weirdly bugs me that that image at the top of this article features stuff from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader but not The Silver Chair. I’ve read more than one fan opine that one’s the best of the BBC Narnia series.
I actually wouldn’t mind if the BBC adapted the other three books now with the original actors.
I think it would have been awesome to see someone attempt to do The Last Battle it’s one of my favorite Narnia books. For that matter I would love to see someone attempt to try to do the story once at least wether that be Netflix or Logos theatre or somebody.
I always felt the three unfilmed books were left because of budget and technology/special effects at the time. Those three would have required the most.
Personally, the scene in VOTDT when Aslan says: “Lucy, you will never come back” made me so sad as a child. The Last Battle may have been too much for children to cope with.
No BBC they were putting all there money on the end run of the original doctor who lol but honestly, it would’ve been a bit of an under taking for them giving all the subjects it covers
If Netflix finishes their series and reaches The Last Battle, at the end, we should see all the past actors, from both BBC and Walden. I think that’s the best way to pay homage to the past versions!
I recall not enjoying The Last Battle at all as a child. I found it incredibly grim, with none of the magic or mystery of the earlier books. The whole story with the ape and the donkey didn’t engage me. I didn’t care about it. Not sure it’s the best subject for a children’s film or tv show tbh. I’m very much looking forward to seeing TMN on Netflix.
Re watching the.. all on you tube now so much better than the film
I would LOVE to see a good adaptation of the Last Battle. It is one of C.S. Lewis’ finest works, in my opinion.
A few corrections, they didn’t do the first four books, they did the second fourth, fifth and sixth. Missing were the magicians nephew, the horse and his boy and the last battle.
Furthermore I struggle to see how Susan could be brought back for the last battle because having read the book she is conspicuous by her absence and indeed that is noted within the book and why that has happened.
It may one day happen but in this climate a lot of directors will be very reluctant to touch it and, if they do, will likely make many changes due to its dark and contentious nature. In short, I don’t see that we will ever see a faithful film version.
@Julian Hendy-Ibbs: Nothing incorrect about the article in that regard! You might want to check the publication dates on those books… or better yet, take a look at our handy guide to the Narnia book order here:
https://www.narniaweb.com/books/readingorder/
They don’t have Samuel West on that cover as adult Caspian in The Voyage, but they do have the young Caspian. I love the BBC casting of young Caspian. I’m glad we have a version with him at the correct age.
I wonder how BBC would have made an ape and a donkey talk. I think that by now those creatures would look cringeworthy, if done as puppet- style costumes. I think the way to go for Shift would have been the way they did Maugrim.
I hope someone eventually makes The Last Battle. If Netflix does terribly with The Magician’s Nephew then I would prefer that a different company produces it, but I think it would be so cool to see that book adapted to screen. There are so many emotional ups and downs in the story and there could be some really great cinematography, too!
On a side note, I’m curious as to what a BBC Hobbit film/series would have been like. Though the BBC Narnia series are very poor by today’s standards, it’s fascinating as to what they could do back then with so little money and no access to today’s superior technology. The BBC Hobbit might have been poor but I would love to see it anyway, just to analyze it! I actually filled an entire notebook with analyzations of the Narnia films and series, mostly the BBC versions. It was so fun!
There’s still a bit of footage around of an obviously cheap as chips BW version of TLW&TW from the 1960s – and that footage, cheap and stage bound as it is, has more of the magic and wonder in it of the books than the entire run of the later BBC series (even TSC – which was easily the best of them) – which demonstrates that, like the later films, big budgets and FX are not what makes good storytelling.
P.S. Nice to see the old argument between story chronology and publication order still alive and well in these comments! FWIW, publication order makes a lot more sense – particularly as TMN undermines and contradicts some of what we’re told in the earlier books; that’s fine in publication order, but doesn’t make sense if you make TMN book 1.
As for The Last Battle – it was always more a thinly veiled (if veiled at all) polemic (and allegory obviously), than a decent piece of storytelling. Let it go.