Joe Johnston, director of such films as Jurassic Park III (2001), Hidalgo (2004), and Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), is said to be retiring after his swan song of the upcoming Narnia film, The Silver Chair.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair will be the fourth official Narnia movie to be released, although whether or not it will be considered as part of the same franchise as the past three films is still unknown at this point. The first two Narnia films, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) were released under the Disney umbrella, but due to lesser success than they were wanting and anticipating, 20th Century Fox instead took over for the third and most recently released film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). Despite the studios changing, the cast remained primarily the same, at least of the protagonists Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes, Peter and Susan’s characters do not appear in the Dawn Treader novel), as well as Caspian (Ben Barnes), so it still felt like a continuation and another entry in the same franchise.

It seems unlikely that this film will be part of the same universe however, even though it will still be in the world of Narnia. One of the protagonists in this upcoming book and film is Eustace Scrubb, who was portrayed by Will Poulter (most recently seen viciously in Detroit (2017)) in Dawn Treader, but that was seven years ago now, so he is much too old to be considered for that role currently. This makes it interesting to do a Narnia film that is different rather than simply rebooting, although maybe, dare we say it, they are wanting originality rather than simply “re-doing.”

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair has been in development for many years now, but according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), despite it having its director of Joe Johnston, still does not have a release date attached, so it doesn’t appear that Joe Johnston will be disappearing anytime soon. Johnston is hopeful for a 2019 release, and given his track record and the fact that this will probably be his last film, hopefully we will get a terrific Narnia movie.

Other films directed by Joe Johnston include Jumanji (1995), October Sky (1999), The Wolfman (2010), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), and The Rocketeer (1991).

Are you excited for more Narnia?