Harry Potter, Narnia, Tolkien return. What should the Church do?

Within the next 16 months, three fantasy worlds that shaped a generation will return. The new Harry Potter series premieres this Christmas. Netflix will release“Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” in theaters in February 2027. Warner Bros. will return to Middle-earth with “The Hunt for Gollum” in December 2027.

Some will say Hollywood has run out of good ideas. But that alone does not explain why millions would still watch these fantasy worlds.

People are hungry for wonder. They want stories about temptation and courage, sacrifice and resurrection, a savior, good and evil and hope beyond death.

Christians should pay attention. Here’s why.

Our response to fantasy often falls into two extremes. Some condemn every dragon or imagined power as demonic. Others call everything harmless because it is “only fantasy.” Neither response is biblical discernment.

Jesus Himself used parables to reveal spiritual truth that people could understand (Matthew 13:34).

John Bunyan understood this when he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress. His method? Allegory. A man named Christian travels toward the Celestial City and confronts different characters, such as Giant Despair.

C.S. Lewis called Narnia a “supposal.” He asked what Christ might be like if He entered a world such as Narnia. The lion, Aslan, is the Creator and rightful King who gives his life for a traitor and rises again. Lewis believed fantasy could “steal past” the defenses that had made religious truth feel lifeless to many readers.

Many believe J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as an allegory, but he rejected the idea. In a 1953 letter to Jesuit priest Robert Murray, he called The Lord of the Rings “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work.” The Ring shows how our sinful desires lure and tempt us with the promise of power, but ultimately corrupt and enslave us.

Harry Potter correlations are more difficult to prove. The final book puts 1 Corinthians 15:26 on the grave of Harry’s parents: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” The evil Voldemort is enslaved by his fear of death, while Harry willingly gives himself to save others. But Christian truth and imagery within a story do not make everything in it spiritually harmless. Harry Potter mixes invented wonders with real practices such as divination and attempts to communicate with the dead. Deuteronomy 18 clearly condemns sorcery, divination and necromancy.

The question is not, “do stories contain supernatural power?” The Bible is filled with it. To an outsider, Moses raising his staff as the sea divided might have looked like sorcery. The real questions are: What is the source? What does a story call good? What does it make evil appear to be? What desires does it awaken in our children and us?

A moving staircase is imaginary. Tarot cards, séances and attempts to contact spirits are not. We grew up seeing the damage caused when Satanists opened themselves up to demonic influence. If entertainment creates a desire to practice what God forbids, the line between viewing fantasy and pursuing darkness has been crossed.

Yet if Christians only criticize, we surrender good stories to everyone else. Lewis, Tolkien and Bunyan did not merely complain about the stories their cultures were telling. They created better ones. Their stories reached millions with truth who might have resisted a sermon, but who could still feel sorrow at Aslan’s death, recognize themselves in Gollum’s slavery or long for evil to be defeated.

Behind fantasy’s battles of light and darkness, giants, dragons and strange creatures lies a real biblical story. It began thousands of years ago in Genesis, where humans lived for centuries, fallen angels fathered the Nephilim and dragons and fearsome creatures roamed the earth. Genesis 3:15 promised a Seed who would crush the ancient serpent: Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

These stories grip us because they echo truth.

Satan used war, idolatry and deception to stop the Messianic line. God chose Israel from nations worshiping other gods; Scripture says their sacrifices were offered to demons. Evil attacked the promised line from Seth through David, but the Messiah came. Jesus defeated Satan and set us free.

Truth is stranger than fiction. But the story is not over. Jesus warned that the end would be marked by birth pains and deception, and He promised to return as King of Kings. Harry Potter, Narnia and Middle-earth are returning to our screens, but Jesus Himself will return to this world. The ending has already been written.

Are you ready?