CS Lewis' family 'very upset' at Meryl Streep as Aslan, friend says: 'Going to destroy the brand'

A friend of C.S. Lewis' stepson claimed this week that members of the late author's family are "very upset" by Meryl Streep's casting as Aslan in Netflix's upcoming Narnia adaptation and are attempting to "regain control" of the company that manages the literary and media rights to Lewis' works.

"They're very concerned about it, because they're worried that it's going to, you know, destroy the brand," Movieguide founder Dr. Ted Baehr told CBN News, noting that Lewis' 80-year-old stepson, Douglas Gresham, is godfather to his daughter-in-law.

Baehr also served as president of the Episcopal Radio and Television Foundation, which produced the animated version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe on CBS in 1979.

Confirmation from director Greta Gerwig last week that Streep was cast to voice Aslan in The Magician's Nephew prompted a torrent of negative reaction from many Christian fans, some of whom suggested that gender-swapping the Christ-like lion is an affront to the classic Christian allegory.

Baehr suggested that Lewis' family share in that critical assessment, noting he recently visited Gresham's son, Tim Gresham, in Sydney, Australia.

"Theologically this is a tremendous heresy and it's a tremendous problem. ... So it shouldn't happen," Baehr said of Streep's casting. "C.S. Lewis would be turning over his grave. His family is very upset about it, and I think we should be upset about it."

Baehr stopped short of offering details on his claim that the Gresham family are attempting to take back the reins of The C.S. Lewis Company, which closed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2018 to develop new series and film projects based on The Chronicles of Narnia.

"They did a big campaign. They're trying to regain control of The C.S. Lewis Company in order that," Baehr said before cutting himself off. "The problem is, and this happens quite often — no, I shouldn't tell you that. But anyway, things happen."

Baehr, who ensured that Aslan remained an uncompromised allegory for Jesus Christ in the 1979 adaptation, explained that the casting of a female actor to portray Aslan presents "lots of issues" that extend beyond merely upsetting fans.

"One, it's beloved; one, it's going to destroy the brand. But there's a deeper issue, which is the theological issue," he said, noting the serious theological implications of tinkering with the gender identity of Aslan — a character Lewis described as the incarnation of Christ in a world like Narnia.

"Because God the Father, and Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit and, of course, the whole process leads toward The Last Battle, and The Last Battle represents Jesus in Heaven," he said, referring to the last book in the Narnia series. "If God is a Father, he is not Meryl Streep pretending to be a father. He's not trans. He's the Father, he's our Father. He loves us, He adopts us."

The Last Battle, which reflects Lewis' eschatology, tells the story of an old, manipulative ape named Shift convincing a gullible donkey named Puzzle to masquerade as Aslan by wearing the skin suit of a lion. Shift deceives many of the talking animals of Narnia into following the false, ultimately demonic Aslan named "Tashlan," which is the name some critics on social media have assigned to Streep's version of the character.

Baehr noted that The Magician's Nephew was intended as the Genesis of Narnia, and that the fatherhood of God in creating the world is a crucial part of the story.

"You have to have God as a Father. You can't have God being voiced as a woman. This is not theologically correct," said Baehr, who placed director Greta Gerwig's reinterpretation of Narnia in the context of other directors inserting ideology into adaptations of classic literature, such as Christopher Nolan's recent version of The Odyssey.

Baehr, who said he spoke with Gerwig after she agreed to direct The Magician's Nephew, said while he believes the director "has a heart for God," he questions whether she has the biblical worldview to faithfully pull off the adaptation.

"I don't want to classify her in any category, but if you look at [Gerwig's] 'Barbie' or whatever, it's much more feminist. There's a feminist undertone. It's not a biblical portrait of relationships. And I think you need to see the biblical portrait," he said of Gerwig.

Gerwig, who grew up as a Unitarian Universalist, has said she envisions her adaptation of The Magician's Nephew to be "a rock opera," claiming, "David Bowie saved my life. Paul McCartney saved my life. David Gilmour saved my life. Pete Townshend saved my life. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant. ... Narnia is literally a world made out of music. It is a world sung to life by Aslan."

In a 2018 interview, Gerwig said she feels "uncomfortable around 'Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior stuff,' I find that creepy, but I go to church every Sunday." She claimed she would attend multiple services across different denominations on the same day, but noted she appreciates prayers to the Virgin Mary because "it feels like this 'God the Father' thing is a bit alienating for me."