Narnia Franchise Moves Forward with 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair'

Although they are just as highly regarded and widely-read as J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, adaptations of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia have never met with the same level of success. Walden Media, The C.S. Lewis Company, and Disney teamed up on 2005's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and it was a $745M smash. But the bottom fell out quickly on the sequels, leading to Walden and Disney's departure. The franchise appeared to have run its course but now the Mark Gordon Company has come aboard with plans to adapt Lewis' fourth book, The Silver Chair.

Before Walden exited the picture they had begun plans to jump forward and adapt the sixth book, The Magician's Nephew, which would have been a prequel. That idea is now out and instead the chronology will be followed in its natural order. The Silver Chair takes place decades later in Narnia while only a year has passed in England. When King Caspian's son goes missing, Aslan the Lion brings back Eustace Scrubb to help find him. Eustace was played by Will Poulter in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but it's unclear if he'll come back. He's just coming off this summer's top comedy hit, We're the Millers, and may be a bit tougher to lure back. The other central human character is Jill Pole, Eustace's friend at a boarding school and a newcomer to Narnia.

No writers or a director are attached at this point so don't expect to see The Silver Chair in theaters for awhile.