The Horse and His Boy dedication (1954)

The families of David and Douglas Gresham, stepsons of C.S. Lewis, have released an official statement via Netflix about Writer/Director Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. This comes days after Movieguide founder Dr. Ted Baehr made headlines by reporting the family had spoken to him about the film.

The Statement

“From our ongoing conversations with Greta Gerwig, we have personally witnessed her sincere passion for the Narnia series. Her life-long love of C.S. Lewis is apparent to everyone involved with this film. We saw this enthusiasm during our visit to the set in London. We are thrilled to be working with such a talented and accomplished director and production team, and are keen to continue working with them on future projects. Our vision is for this movie to be enormously successful and for this calibre of talent to be applied to all of the Chronicles of Narnia.”

NarniaWeb has also been in contact with the family, who told us they have not yet seen any footage or heard any audio from the movie.

Comments from Dr. Baehr

Last week, Dr. Ted Baehr told CBN that members of Lewis’ family were “very upset” about Meryl Streep voicing Aslan. Baehr said they were “concerned about it, because they’re worried that it’s going to destroy the brand,” and claimed that they were attempting to “regain control” of the company that manages the literary and media rights to Lewis’ works.

Baehr has longstanding personal ties to Lewis’s family, particularly through Douglas Gresham, who is godfather to at least one of Ted’s grandchildren. He was also president of the company that produced the 1979 animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which he says Greta Gerwig “loved“).

Background: The Family

C.S. Lewis had no biological children. Through his marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, he became stepfather to her two sons, David and Douglas Gresham (to whom The Horse and His Boy is dedicated to).

David died in 2014. Douglas, as most our readers know well, has spent decades associated with the C.S. Lewis Company as a creative consultant and was closely involved with 2005-2010 Narnia films. He retains an executive producer credit on Netflix’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.

However, in 2024, Douglas’ wife and children announced that he was suffering from frontotemporal dementia and was showing the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. They said he was being cared for at home by his wife and eldest son, and told NarniaWeb he was not expected to make a recovery.

Background: The C.S. Lewis Company

The C.S. Lewis Company currently has four employees, including co-director Vincent Sieber-Smith, who has held the role since 2012, and co-director Graham Williams, who joined in 2025. Williams has been affiliated with Christian organizations including Compassion UK and Hillsong Church London.

The company, which holds rights to Lewis’ literary works and is involved in the production, has previously stated:

“It’s incredibly moving to see how deeply Greta Gerwig has embraced C.S. Lewis’ world, and infused Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew with joy, heart, and genuine love for the story.”

A source who worked on the film told NarniaWeb that representatives of the C.S. Lewis Company were on set “every single day” and were actively involved in creative discussions about the film.

Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will be released in IMAX and theatres worldwide on February 12, 2027, before arriving on Netflix on April 2.