The news that Barbie director (and newly highest-grossing female filmmaker ever) Greta Gerwig would be spearheading the latest effort to adapt CS Lewis’ beloved children’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia is welcome news for fans that haven’t seen an adaptation in over a decade.
However, just because there hasn’t been any new Narnia movie or series since 2010 doesn’t mean there have not been an incredible number of adaptations of the fantasy franchise since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950.
When you count radio, theatrical, and comic books, there have been more Narnia adaptations than you can shake a silver chair, so with that in mind, we are going to limit ourselves to the television and film versions of CS Lewis’ classic allegorical story.
Let’s enter the wardrobe and break it down!
Related: Are ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Part of the Same World?
‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (1967)

The first television adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia was all the way back in 1967, when the British network ITV (a competitor of the BBC) produced a black-and-white version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In America, it was broadcast by ABC in ten 20-minute episodes, which starred Zuleika Robson as Susan, Liz Crowther as Lucy, Paul Waller as Peter, and Edward McMurray as Edmund.
As in the original novel, the story follows the Pevensie siblings as they enter the magical, winter-bound world of Narnia via a mysterious wardrobe and come into conflict with the evil White Witch (Elizabeth Wallace). Eventually, the Jesus-like lion Aslan comes to the rescue, is executed by the Witch in a ritual sacrifice, and the day is won by the good guys. The Pevensies are crowned monarchs of Narnia and reign for years until they all emerge on the Earth side of the wardrobe as children once more.
Unlike pretty much every following Narnia adaptation, the ITV version of the story featured adult actors playing the parts of various talking animals; Aslan himself can be seen above, as played by Doctor Who regular Bernard Kay. Of the ten episodes, only two are still known to exist and are unavailable for streaming or purchase, making this something of a lost series.

Credit: ABC
‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (1979)

The next Narnia adaptation is much more widely known than the black-and-white 1967 version and for good reason. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979) was the first feature-length animated film made for television and was produced by Bill Melendez, best known for the perennial A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and the Children’s Television Workshop, the company behind Sesame Street.
This adaptation deviated from the source material in a number of ways, including cutting out the more overt Christian themes (such as Santa Claus’ appearance) and removing any mention of World War II, the novel’s reason for the Pevensies being evacuated to a country manor in the first place.
The movie was an enormous success for CBS, drawing in over 37 million viewers and winning the second-ever Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. The movie was originally recorded with American voice actors and re-recorded for its later British release, presumably to keep CS Lewis’ cozy English vibes alive.

Interestingly, the only actor to voice a character in both the American and British releases was Stephen Thorne, who portrayed Aslan, and, much like the 1967 version of the lion, was best known to audiences as a villain on Doctor Who.
Related: ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Being Revived After More Than a Decade
‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (1988)

At some point, it appears that the United Kingdom became jealous of America repeatedly doing its own thing with an archetypal British fantasy series and decided it was going to go all in.
Beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988), the BBC produced an ambitious slate of Narnia television series. The first movie starred Richard Dempsey as Peter, Sophie Cook as Susan, Jonathan R. Scott as Edmund, Sophie Wilcox as Lucy, and Barbara Kellerman as the White Witch, and was noted for its remarkably decent special effects for a BBC series at the time.
It was also notably faithful to the original book, bringing back Father Christmas (that’s Santa Claus, to Americans) after he had been excised from the 1979 animated version. As a whole, the series was critically acclaimed, being nominated for 16 awards and winning a BAFTA.
Once again, the actor who voiced Aslan (Ronald Pickup) had a connection to Doctor Who: his first TV appearance was during the venerable BBC science fiction series’ Reign of Terror serial.
‘Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ (1989)

At long last, we manage to move beyond adaptations of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the other books in CS Lewis’ series. The BBC adapted two Narnia books, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, into a single series for (most likely) budgetary reasons; of the six-episode series, two episodes sum up the former, and four consist of the latter.
Prince Caspian brought back the four actors who portrayed the Pevensie siblings and introduced two new important characters. The titular prince was played by Jean Marc Perret, while David Thwaites portrayed Eustace Scrubb, the Pevensies’ jerk of a cousin. Star Wars and Willow star Warwick Davis had an early (and horrifyingly costumed) role as Reepicheep, the chivalrous, swashbuckling Talking Mouse.
The first two episodes find the Pevensie children returning to Narnia, only to find hundreds of years have passed, a new race of Humans have brutally conquered the land, and Talking Animals and other magical creatures are in hiding. After meeting the dwarf Trumpkin (Big Mick), the children meet up with the titular Prince Caspian, who eventually overthrows his uncle Miraz (Robert Lang) and ushers in a new golden age for Narnia.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader finds the two younger Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund, pulled back into Narnia alongside cousin Eustace to travel with Caspian on a long ocean voyage of various adventures based on Welsh legends.
‘The Silver Chair’ (1990)

The final installment of the BBC Narnia adaptations covers the fourth novel in the series, which is far as anyone has gotten so far. In many ways, it is also the darkest installment of the series, involving child theft, brainwashing, bullying, and the return of Barbara Kellerman, this time as the mysterious Green Lady (who appears related to the White Witch in some way).
The Silver Chair finds Eustace being brought back to Narnia (all the original Pevensies having aged out according to Aslan’s somewhat nebulous rules) alongside schoolmate Jill Pole (Camilla Power) decades after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Aged King Caspian (Geoffrey Russell) is on his deathbed, and Eustace, Jill, and a swamp creature known as the Marsh-Wiggle Puddleglum (Tom Baker), set out to find his long-missing heir Prince Rinian (Richard Henders), this time on a journey that takes them below the surface of the world itself.
And, as always, there is a Doctor Who connection: Tom Baker famously played the Fourth Doctor between 1974-1981.
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (2005)

The first theatrical Narnia movie, Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), owes its existence to the dual success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Once Warner Bros and New Line had proved that the world was ready for big-budget fantasy novel adaptations, it was clear that Disney had to get into the mix.
Guillermo del Toro was initially offered the movie but was unable to accept it due to the production of his acclaimed film Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). Instead, the film went to Andrew Adamson, who was just coming off the success of Shrek (2001), a very different kind of fantasy movie.
The film (and the subsequent movies) were also co-written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who would go on to be responsible for the majority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019).
Unlike some previous adaptations, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe actually depicted the Luftwaffe bombings of London that drove the Pevensie children (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley) to the countryside manor of Professor Digory Kirke (Jim Broadbent).
The film brought in some of the most highly regarded talents of the series so far, including Tilda Swinton in an acclaimed role as the White Witch, James McAvoy as the Faun Mr Tumnus, and Liam Neeson (beating out Brian Cox) as the voice Aslan.
It was also a massive success, grossing $745 million at the box office and being nominated for three Academy Awards, ensuring the series would continue.
And, you guessed it, Doctor Who snuck in there again: Jim Broadbent played a version of the Time Lord in the comedic, semi-canonical special The Curse of Fatal Death (1999).
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ (2008)

Director Andrew Adamson returned for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), as did the actors playing the Pevensie family, Liam Neeson as Aslan, and a brief cameo from Tilda Swinton. The story largely followed the plot of the novel, though it aged Caspian (Ben Barnes) from a child to an adolescent and largely portrayed the invading Telmarines as foreign-coded colonizers.
Once again, the Pevensies are brought to Narnia to aid Caspian and his faithful dwarf aide Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage, a long way from Game of Thrones) in the battle against Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). Warwick Davis returns to the franchise, this time as the evil dwarf Nikabrik, while Eddie Izzard takes over his former role of Reepicheep, now envisioned as a deadly partisan assassin.
While still a commercial blockbuster, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian grossed a much lower $419 million at the box office than its predecessor, which spelled trouble for the series’ next installment.
We were saving this from his first appearance: Warwick Davis appeared in Nightmare in Silver (2013), a Doctor Who episode from the Matt Smith era of the show. Thanks, Warwick, for keeping the streak alive.
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‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ (2010)

The diminishing box office returns of Prince Caspian seem to have spooked Disney. Despite bringing in critically acclaimed director Michael Apted, the company disagreed with Walden Media (who owned the rights to the novels) about a proposed $140 million budget and abandoned the project mid-development.
20th Century Fox picked up the slack, Ben Barne, the Pevensie actors, Liam Neeson and Tilda Swinton returned, while new actors for Eustace (Will Poulter) and Reepicheep (Simon Pegg) appeared in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).
It has been the last adaptation of the series to date and grossed a slightly lower $415 million than its predecessors. After Disney withdrew from the franchise, it went into limbo for years; while Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2017 and, with it, the rights to the previous Narnia movies, Netflix currently owns the film and TV rights.
Greta Gerwig is next up to the wardrobe, and we’re excited to see what she can do.
Also, you guessed it: Simon Pegg appeared in a 2005 Doctor Who episode. The Narnia–Doctor Who connections run deep!
Which is your favorite Narnia adaptation? Let us know in the comments below!