It’s not exactly a secret that the far left has genuine disdain for Christianity.
(Unless it’s the bastardized version of the faith.)
It’s a slightly better kept secret that far leftists actually hate art, too — especially when the artist’s original vision differs even slightly from the modern left.
And those two poorly kept secrets came to a head recently with the latest announcements pertaining to the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of the literary classic series “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” (which Netflix’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” is based on) follows four siblings who discover the magical land of Narnia, where an evil ruler has plunged the kingdom into an endless winter.
They join the resistance alongside the lion Aslan, Narnia’s rightful king, who ultimately sacrifices himself to save one of the children from death. Aslan then rises from the dead and leads Narnia to victory.
The Christian allegory is unmistakable. Aslan is a Christ figure: he willingly dies in the place of a guilty sinner, rises from the dead, defeats evil, and restores a broken world.
That makes any major reinterpretation of Aslan more than a simple casting or aesthetic choice for many readers — it changes how the story’s central Christian allegory is even communicated.
But Netflix doesn’t appear to care.
In a fawning preview piece from Empire magazine, Greta Gerwig — who directed the intolerable “Barbie” movie — shared some major details about the forthcoming Netflix adaptation.
And no revelation raised as many eyebrows as the changes that Gerwig would bring to Aslan.
The first, and most notable, change? Aslan was not going to have a male voice. Rather, longtime actress Meryl Streep will be voicing Aslan.
The second, and more visual change, is that Aslan would be getting some flair added. The flair includes heterochromic (different-colored) eyes, and red stripes on his face.
Apparently, instead of honoring Christ, Gerwig and Netflix want to honor… David Bowie.
(Or a worse interpretation: This is Netflix blatantly deifying Bowie.)
Unsurprisingly, the internet was somewhat split on this news.
There were undoubtedly liberals, leftists, and atheists who slobbered over the Aslan changes and Streep revelation. And to be fair, even this writer must admit that Streep is a talented actress.
But the Christian and conservative fans? Their response was a little different, as you likely expected:
– Gender swapped Aslan (who’s meant to be an allegory of Jesus)
– making it about rock and roll for a story set pre world war 2
– was supposed to be a “major motion picture event” in November only to be moved to February which is dump month.
All good signs, all good signs… https://t.co/kN4NB7jrao
— Jester_Bell 🎥 🍿 🥳 (@TheresaCampagna) September 17, 2026
Aslan is male. He’s a representation of Christ. Doing this suggests a fundamental misreading of the text and, with that, it probably won’t work. https://t.co/bnrh290qyO
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 17, 2026
Christian sports pundit Jon Root even hypothesized that Streep’s feminine voice being paired with a still-male lion could be a gender theory allegory.
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Aslan in Chronicles of Narnia is a subversive abomination…
– Aslan (representation of Jesus Christ) is voiced by a woman (Meryl Streep)
– Aslan will still appear as a male lion (Trans allegory?)
– Aslan will have heterochromic eyes and a prominent… pic.twitter.com/QH8qGvxgv2— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) September 17, 2026
Root didn’t mince words when summing up his feelings on the Gerwig adaptation: “This is an utter disgrace and an attack on Christianity.”
And if you care at all about the inherent and overt Christian symbolism in the original books, it’s kind of hard to dispute Root.
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