Culture and Social Issues

Online Right Explodes Over Possible Gender Swap Of ‘Narnia’ Character Symbolizing Jesus

Glyn Lowe/Wikimedia Commons

Conservatives have reacted furiously to reports that a woman might play a traditionally male character in a “Chronicles of Narnia” reboot.

The news sites Nexus Point and Deadline first reported March 31 and April 3 that actress Meryl Streep was in talks with the makers of the upcoming film about playing the lion character Aslan in the upcoming film. The potential casting has drawn widespread backlash online, as Aslan is a male lion, who symbolizes Jesus Christ in the allegorical Narnia books by late Christian author C.S. Lewis. (RELATED: Young Americans Are Slamming Brakes On Christianity’s Freefall)

“They just have to ruin everything good, don’t they[?]” a freelance editor for the conservative satire site Babylon Bee posted the day the news broke.

“I’m not going to say ‘I told you so’ about this potential Netflix abomination,” said a writer for the Not The Bee, the commentary branch of Babylon Bee, in an article. “But I think we’re getting really, really close to ‘I told you so’ territory.”

Greta Gerwig and Netflix‘s film will reportedly adapt “The Magician’s Nephew,” which takes place at the start of Lewis’s written saga. The film will debut in theaters on Thanksgiving Day in 2026, Variety reported. It has no official title yet.

Netflix plans on gender-swapping Aslan in the new “Narnia” movie. Meryl Streep got offered. Talks are underway.

No, this is not a joke. pic.twitter.com/9PbcMOZxJJ

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 3, 2025

The popular X account End Wokeness chimed in on April 3 by saying, “No, this is not a joke” in response to the news. The account’s post had 32,000 likes and 2,800 reposts as of Monday afternoon.

A writer for Breitbart called the potential Streep casting “Netflix’s ‘fuck you’ to Christians” on Friday.