FILM · 2005 · UK
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
30 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
30 Interesting Facts About The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Interesting Facts (18)
- #001
The wolves that wreck the Beavers' home were mostly real; one or two were CGI, but even the real ones needed their tails digitally removed and redone, because they kept wagging them and looking friendly during the scene. The trained wolves on screen were Husky or Alaskan Malamute mixes.
- #002
The inscription on Peter's sword reads: "When Aslan shakes his mane, Narnia will know spring again."
- #003
When the grown-ups' swearing got out of hand on set, Georgie Henley (Lucy) started a swear jar. James McAvoy was reportedly the worst offender, and according to the DVD commentary even her young co-stars had to pay up, especially Skandar Keynes.
- #004
The four thrones at Cair Paravel differ slightly: each headrest is carved with the gift its owner received from Father Christmas. Lucy's has a bottle, Susan's a horn and Peter's the hilt of his sword. Edmund, who wasn't there and got no gift, has a sword breaking a wand, his heroic act in the climactic battle.
- #005
In the final battle, the fur around the White Witch's neck is Aslan's mane, shorn the night before. In the same scene she fights with two swords in the Florentine style.
- #006
The film was shot mostly in chronological order. The last scene, with the Pevensies tumbling out of the wardrobe, was filmed before any of the exteriors so the children would still be pale and look as they did at the start.
- #007
Professor Kirke offers the other Pevensies three ways to think about Lucy's story of Narnia: either she is lying, she is mad, or she is telling the truth. C.S. Lewis, an outspoken defender of Christianity, set out three similar options about Jesus being the Son of God in "Mere Christianity": Liar, Lunatic or Lord. Known as his "Trilemma," the argument is still widely used by Christians.
- #008
The Witch's coachman has no name in the book. The filmmakers made him a relative of Nikabrik, the dwarf in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), and called him Ginarrbrik; in the films the two dwarfs wear the same family ring.
- #009
No real lions were used, because Andrew Adamson wanted a moment where Georgie Henley could reach out and touch Aslan. Each frame of the CGI Aslan, with his 5.2 million individual hairs, took about ten hours to render.
- #010
Mr. Tumnus was CGI only from the waist down, his goat legs and hooves. His ears were remote-controlled, and he wore a fake nose and plenty of hair.
- #011
The filmmakers asked to bring twelve reindeer to New Zealand to pull the Ice Queen's sleigh. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry refused, citing Q fever, a potentially fatal disease found in North American reindeer. Ten wolves, however, were let into the country for filming in Auckland.
- #012
The precious artifact Mrs. MacReady warns Susan not to touch is a bust of Dante Alighieri.
- #013
When Lucy meets the faun Mr. Tumnus, he plays her a tune on an odd-looking Narnian instrument. The sound itself comes from the duduk (doudouk, düdük), a traditional Armenian wind instrument made famous by Sergei Parajanov's The Color of Pomegranates (1969) and Parajanov: The Last Spring (1992), and by now almost a fixture of Hollywood blockbusters. The instrument Tumnus holds on set was invented by the props department. In the book, as a faun, he plays the pan pipes, which are very hard to play or even to fake.
- #014
In the air raid scene, the photo of the Pevensies' father that Edmund risks his neck to rescue is a real portrait of editor Sim Evan-Jones's father.
- #015
As the Child and Director commentary reveals, Georgie Henley (Lucy) didn't like tea, so what she drinks with Mr. Tumnus is actually hot chocolate.
- #016
In scenes where the children had to react to or talk with CGI characters, Andrew Adamson and his assistant Alina Phelan voiced the missing characters so the kids had someone to respond to.
- #017
In the train scene, the two children sharing the compartment are played by the children of Sophie Cook, who played Susan Pevensie in the 1988 version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
- #018
When Peter talks with Aslan, Aslan says: "Beaver also mentioned that you planned on turning him into a hat." The line didn't make it into the film: William Moseley smiles because a fly was buzzing around his head, which ruined the take.
Production Story (1)
- #019
Before he died, C.S. Lewis sold the adaptation rights to the whole "Narnia" series. He had no time for television versions of his books, finding them unconvincing because actors had to wear suits to play non-human characters. His stepson and co-producer Douglas Gresham only agreed to a film after seeing a demo reel of computer-generated creatures and how far the technology had come.
Behind the Scenes (3)
- #020
Georgie Henley's reaction to Mr. Tumnus at the lamppost is genuine: she hadn't seen James McAvoy in costume before the scene, so her screams were real. So was her first reaction to snowy Narnia; she was carried onto the set blindfolded for her entrance, and her wide-eyed delight was entirely her own.
- #021
During filming, William Moseley (Peter) kept accidentally hitting Georgie Henley (Lucy) with his sword hilt and tripping when running too fast.
- #022
Anna Popplewell is afraid of rats, so the scenes with rats were shot with her stunt double.
Characters & Cast (5)
- #023
Edmund was the last of the four children to be cast, and since the other three had already spent nearly a month together in a workshop when Skandar got the part, it helped his character feel a little apart from his siblings. Skandar hated being hugged by the others, so director Andrew Adamson had them hug him at every opportunity to heighten the on-screen tension, even after a scene was over. Skandar wasn't there for the scene where Edmund follows Lucy to the wardrobe, so Anna Popplewell put on his costume from the waist down and did it in his place.
- #024
At the end, when the adult kings and queens go hunting, the film never explains the white stag. It was meant to be magical and grant one wish to whoever caught it; the kings and queens wanted its power, so they chased it themselves, all the way to the edge of Narnia at the lamppost.
- #025
Georgie Henley plays Lucy, and near the end her older sister Rachael Henley plays the grown-up Lucy. Early on, when Mr. Tumnus calls Lucy a "Daughter of Eve," she says, confused, that her mother's name is Helen and that she has two daughters.
- #026
Tilda Swinton, the first choice for the White Witch Jadis, hadn't read the book before filming. She wore platform shoes under her costume for extra height and used shoulder supports between takes to take the weight of her wig and crown.
- #027
Gerard Butler was actually going to voice Aslan, but at his audition he asked: "This isn't going to be like the BBC's puppet Aslan, is it? Because if so, I'm walking out right now."
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #028
The Professor smokes his pipe while talking with Peter and Susan in his study, taking tobacco from a silver apple, a nod to his own adventures in Narnia in The Magician's Nephew, the first book of the series.
Deeper Meaning (2)
- #029
In the "Narnia" books, Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent) is Digory Kirke grown old. As a boy, Digory was the hero of "The Magician's Nephew," which takes place before "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" in the chronology, which explains why the Professor is ready to believe the Pevensies have been to a magical land. "The Magician's Nephew" tells how Narnia was created, how Jadis arrived as the White Witch, and how the lamppost and the wardrobe came to be, and every design carved on the wardrobe stands for a key event in that book.
- #030
Aslan means "lion" in Turkish. Lewis came across the name on a trip to Turkey before 1922, where he saw the Sultan's elite guards, called Aslan for their courage and loyalty. The White Witch's name, "Jadis," is French for "formerly." Aslan explains that the Witch has invoked the ancient "deep magic," but that his magic is older still, from "before the dawn of time."
Related pages
- Michelle Pfeiffer — The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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