It’s Official: Meryl Streep To Play Aslan In Chronicles Of Narnia

Meryl Streep has been cast to voice Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Netflix adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series. The announcement has drawn criticism because Aslan, a male lion who in Lewis’s Christian allegory represents Jesus Christ, is being voiced by a woman. The host argues this is not a neutral creative choice but a fundamental misreading of the source material, part of a broader pattern in Hollywood where adaptations prioritize modern ideology over fidelity to the original work.

The Central Argument: Aslan’s Gender Is Not Incidental

The host’s core claim is that Aslan’s maleness is essential to the story Lewis wrote. In the Narnia books, Aslan is the creator of Narnia, sacrifices himself for a traitor, and is resurrected—a clear allegory for Christ. The host acknowledges she is not religious herself but says the Christian symbolism is explicit and widely understood. Changing Aslan’s gender, she argues, does not “enrich” the story but undermines its intended meaning. Gerwig explained the casting by saying she wanted an actor over seventy with “gravitas,” “depth and pathos,” and “fresh wonder, like a child.” The host counters that many male actors fit that description—Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Ian McKellen, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman—and that Gerwig’s rationale does not justi