Thousands petition Netflix to remove Greta Gerwig from future Narnia films: 'A disrespect to Lewis'

A grassroots petition urging Netflix to remove Greta Gerwig as director of future adaptations of "The Chronicles of Narnia" has garnered signatures from thousands of fans who worry she is unfaithfully adapting C.S. Lewis' classic Christian allegory.

Chaz Migliacci, who began the petition last month and moderates a Facebook group for Narnia fans with more than 81,000 members, told The Christian Post that while many have been focusing on the theological implications of actress Meryl Streep voicing Aslan, some of their concerns go deeper.

During an event in New York City with former late-night host Stephen Colbert earlier this week, Gerwig debuted the trailer for her upcoming Netflix film, "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew," which is chronologically the first story in the Narnia series. The film opens in theaters Feb. 12, 2027, and moves to Netflix streaming on April 2.

Gerwig, who told Colbert she read all of Lewis' books in preparation for her film, has drawn widespread criticism for casting Streep as Aslan, with detractors claiming that tinkering with the gender identity of the Christ-like lion is a subversive affront that injects liberal ideology into the children's story.

Migliacci told CP there are several factors driving his petition, which is approaching 3,000 signatures after having received coverage from outlets such as Fox News.

Apart from Streep as Aslan, another concern is that Gerwig's version moves the setting of "The Magician's Nephew" from the book's turn-of-the-century Victorian England to the 1950s, which Migliacci argued "goes a long way toward unraveling the Narnia universe, and it undermines a lot of the personal theology and experiences that C.S. Lewis put into his books." He worries much of Lewis' subtle commentary on the world he grew up in will be lost in a modernizing adaptation.

Lewis emphasized understanding "authorial intent" in his own works on literary criticism, Migliacci noted, and he believes the film's "character design is being used to push a personal agenda and modern cultural inclusion that is a direct subversion of the Christian faith and the author's intentions."

Migliacci said the petition is "not a passive protest," and that signers intend to boycott any Narnia streaming or theater releases that they believe compromise Lewis' authorial intent.

"If the content continues to stray so far from the source material, every signee of this petition has promised not to view or support this by any means. We are not going to go to theaters to see it. We are not going to stream it on Netflix. We will not be viewing this movie at all, because we feel as if it's a disrespect to Lewis," he said.

Migliacci, who said the Narnia stories provided him a needed escape from a lonely and difficult childhood, believes his deeply personal feelings toward Lewis' work are widely shared among many fans. He said he and others remain skeptical of the statement Netflix released earlier this month, which expressed support for Gerwig's vision on behalf of the families of Lewis' stepsons, David and Douglas Gresham.

The statement came in the wake of Movieguide founder Ted Baehr, a friend of Douglas Gresham, claiming last month that members of the family were "very upset" with the direction Gerwig was taking the story and attempting to regain control of The C.S. Lewis Company, which manages the literary and media rights to Lewis' works. The company reportedly inked a nine-figure, multi-year deal with Netflix in 2018 to develop new series and film projects.

"While we respect the statements issued by the estate families, we recognize the standard presence of non-disparagement and promotional cooperation clauses in modern Netflix exclusivity agreements," Migliacci said. "Fans want an independent theological defense of the text, not corporate public relations."

The trailer for "The Magician's Nephew" was met with mixed reactions when it was posted Tuesday on social media. Some expressed admiration for the colorful, rock opera-inspired cinematography and use of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," though others echoed the concerns that Gerwig's interpretation undermines Lewis' distinctly Christian vision.

"If this wasn't a Narnia adaptation, I would say this looks like a good movie. I dislike her feminist themes, but [Gerwig] is a good writer/director. Making Aslan 'trans' and the '80s punk rock vibe are horrific choices. This looks like a good movie, but an insulting Narnia movie," commentator Samuel Sey said.

"This is vile. Absolute bastardization of Lewis. They do these things on purpose. It is a humiliation ritual," said Jonathan Hansen, a pastor whose X post about the trailer drew more than 350,000 views.

"They make Aslan, one of the clearest images of Christ in fiction, a male lion voiced by a woman because they hate Christ. They make him the colors of the rainbow and the trans flag on purpose because they hate Christ. This is the scene from 'That Hideous Strength' where Frost demands Mark trample on the picture of Christ," Hansen added, referencing the third book in Lewis' space trilogy.

"It may bastardize C.S. Lewis but this is going to make roughly a trillion dollars," Commentary Magazine editor John Podhoretz predicted.

"Did anyone stop to ask, at any point, 'What would C.S. Lewis think of what we're doing with the world he created?'" asked Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon.

"Wow. This looks great," said New York Times columnist David French.