Taken together, the Chronicles of Narnia novels by C.S. Lewis represent one of the most beloved fantasy stories in all of children’s literature. Over a 100 million editions of the books in the Narnia series have been sold since it launched in 1950.

Given this immense popularity, it was only a matter of time before the series was adapted for the big screen, after numerous successful TV, radio, and stage productions had been mounted. Yet it wasn’t until 2005 that a film franchise materialized, with the arrival of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The movie received generally positive reviews and was the third highest grossing film of the year, which gave Walden Media the confidence to green-light sequels based on the remaining six books.

This is where things started to go a bit pair-shaped for the Narnia franchise, however. Follow-up outing Prince Caspian – although largely well-received by critics – underperformed at the box office, earning substantially less than its predecessor.

Everyone involved swore that they’d learned valuable lessons from Prince Caspian’s underwhelming reception, and vowed that the next film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, would turn things around. It didn’t – in fact, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader earned even less money, and met with a lukewarm response from critics.

Walden Media subsequently allowed the series rights’ to expire, and the franchise looked done for. Fortunately, The Mark Gordon Company swooped in to save the day, and a new entry, The Silver Chair, is set to start filming later this year.

To the time between now and that film’s premiere, here’s 20 Crazy Details Behind Making Of The Chronicles Of Narnia Movies.

An Actor Played Aslan during filming

Magical talking lion Aslan was brought to life in The Chronicles of Narnia movies through the use of cutting-edge CGI. It’s not like the filmmakers had any choice, really: they could hardly have employed the services of an actual jungle cat!

The actors were initially forced to engage with an inanimate bust of Aslan’s head when filming scenes with him.

When it came time for the cameras to roll on Prince Caspian, director Andrew Adamson quickly realized this wouldn’t work, considering how involved Aslan’s interactions with Georgie Henley’s Lucy were going to be – so stuntman Shane Rangi stepped in to don Aslan’s mane on set.

The white witch almost looked completely different

If you’re familiar with the illustrations in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – or have fond memories of the book’s BBC adaptation – you’ll know that the White Witch has dark hair. Originally, director Andrew Adamson intended for the big screen version of this frosty villainess to follow suit, so a black wig formed part of actress Tilda Swinton’s costume and everyone was happy.

Then prosthetic make-up supervisor Howard Berger’s children visited the set, and suggested that the White Witch would look better with blonde hair, instead. Berger took their onboard, and ultimately decided that he agreed with them, later branding Swinton’s unused raven-haired locks as “too Gothic”.

Georgie Henley’s Reaction to Tumnus and Narnia was genuine

You can hire the best actors in the world, yet sometimes, nothing beats the impact of a genuine human response. This was the rationale behind director Andrew Adamson’s decision not to reveal any of the Narnian visuals to child actress Georgie Henley prior to filming her scenes in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

It paid off, too: when Henley’s Lucy first enters Narnia, her amazed reaction to its snowy landscape – not to mention fawn Mr. Tumnus – seems genuine because it is!

According to a behind-the-scenes featurette packaged with the movie’s home release, Skandar Keynes was also kept in the dark, resulting in a similarly genuine response when Edmund first encounters the magical realm.

The Magician's Nephew Reboot

We’ve mentioned already that after Voyage of the Dawn Treader was neither the critical nor commercial success that Walden Media hoped for, it the franchise was in dire straits. Indeed, the producers appeared desperate to turn things around – eventually preparing to reboot the series with an adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew.

This would have meant skipping over the next two books in the series – The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy.

This could have caused an uproar among more ardent fans.

That said, given that The Magician’s Nephew serves as an origin story for Narnia-- as chronologically, it’s the first chapter in the series-- it’s the logical springboard for a franchise do-over.

Brian Cox Was Originally The Voice Of Aslan

Liam Neeson has played several mentor figures throughout his career, most notably Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars and Batman’s teacher Ra’s al Ghul in the Dark Knight trilogy. The decision to cast the Oscar-nominee as the voice of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia film franchise was a no-brainer, really.

That said, Neeson wasn’t the filmmakers’ first choice – that honor goes to another distinguished thespian, Brian Cox.

Cox actually made it into the recording booth.

However, upon hearing the Scottish actor’s vocals emanating from the CGI Aslan’s mouth, it became clear to director Andrew Adamson that the part had been miscast.

The setting was almost moved to America

Before Walden Media acquired the licensing rights to The Chronicles of Narnia, the franchise was being developed at Paramount Pictures. It seems the studio wasn’t exactly interested in fidelity to the source material, as executives at Paramount were apparently adamant that the series’ real-world bookend scenes be relocated from the 1940s Britain to present day America!

Douglas Gresham – stepson of series’ author C.S. Lewis, and the person in charge of his estate – objected to these changes, arguing in favor of a more direct translation of his stepfather’s work. Gresham was therefore overjoyed when Paramount’s plans fell through, and he was enthusiastic in his for incoming director Andrew Adamson’s more faithful vision for the franchise.

3,000 Actors Read For The Part Of Peter Pevensie

Finding one talented child actor is tough, but finding four? Now that’s really having your work cut out for you – as the filmmakers found out during casting for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The search to find performers capable of portraying leads Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie was truly exhaustive, with literally thousands of young actors reading for the parts.

Seriously: 3,000 candidates threw their hat in the ring for the part of Peter alone!

Not all of the roles were that hard to fill, though. Director Andrew Adamson only had one actress in mind for the White Witch, Tilda Swinton, who signed on – averting yet another global casting call.

Skandar Keynes (Edmund) Quit Acting After the Narnia movies

For many people, acting – let alone acting in a blockbuster franchise enjoyed by audiences worldwide – would be a dream career. For Skandar Keynes, who has played Edmund Pevensie in all of the The Chronicles of Narnia films to date, acting is a profession he seems to have outgrown.

Keynes has turned his back on Hollywood.

He enrolled at Cambridge University shortly after the release of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where he studies Arabic and Farsi, plus Middle Eastern History.

By all s the one-time Narnian ruler is relishing his new vocation, so don’t expect a big screen comeback any time soon!

Narnia is Designed To Be Different From Middle-Earth

New Zealand special effects house Weta Workshop will probably always be best known for its Oscar-winning work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As you can imagine, this was actually a major concern for Weta founder Richard Taylor when the Workshop was brought onboard to oversee the fabrication of the ostensibly similar world of Narnia.

According to Taylor, he and his team consciously avoided repeating their designs for Middle-earth when trying to visualize the creatures, weapons, and environments of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy realm.

As Taylor himself points out, the two fictional realities are actually very different, which would have made anything more than a ing resemblance between them inappropriate.

They Weren't Allowed To Use Real Reindeer

New Zealand is home to many wonderful native animals, but North American reindeer aren’t among them. That’s why the filmmakers behind The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe planned to ship in 12 reindeer to attach to the White Witch’s sleigh. The problem was that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry refused to grant permission, as the deers posed a risk to New Zealand’s wildlife.

Animatronic reindeer were commissioned, which feature in stationary shots of the sleigh.

In a clever bit of design, the white hide on the faux reindeer could be switched out for brown, allowing the same props to double for those owned by Father Christmas, as well.