It’s a long time since I read the book, but I remember this: Prince Caspian is not a young man. Prince Caspian is not a teenager. Prince Caspian is a boy, with puberty still ahead of him. What were they thinking? Ben Barnes is 27 years old!
I am shocked…SHOCKED that Hollywood would deviate from a source material, causing people to wonder what the producers are smoking.
I believe the reason for this is because he does have to be older in the subsequent movies, so they cast him in reflection of that likelihood. There may also be other reasons specifically in relation to this movie, of course.
I’ve seen that as well, and for whatever reason, it doesn’t bother me.
Really, the only thing I can think of in the book that makes any difference at all because of his age is having Peter fight the duel at the end instead of Caspian, and that can easily be explained by 1) Peter is the High King and 2) even though he’s physically younger than Caspian, technically he grew up in Narnia and has years more swordfighting experience than Caspian even if Caspian is physically older.
Other than that, the rest of the story fits with him being a young man instead of a boy.
Story wise it is a bit jarring. But Ben Barnes is a major hottie so I’m willing to overlook it.
But, when Aslan asks Caspian if he’s worthy to be king, Caspian replies, “I don’t think so. I’m just a kid.” Which satisfies Aslan that he is worthy.
If the actor were 12 now, he would be older by the time the subsequent movies got made.
In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Caspian is still but a teen.
According to the Narnia website, Voyage of the Dawn Treader is set 3 years after Prince Caspian, The Silver Chair is set 50 years after Dawn Treader.
I don’t know about you, but I felt *exactly *like that at 27. Far more than I felt like that at 12.
But my sense is they’re playing him as 17ish, which doesn’t bother me at all. 17 is a kid, by any measure!
And the practical fact is that more teens and adults will go see this with a legal hottie in the role than would go to see it with a 12 year old cutie in the role. Kids will go either way.
Yeah, but if you recall, in “The Magician’s Nephew” the cabby and his wife say something about “we’re not worthy, we’re just simply people” when Aslan wants to make them King and Queen. Basically what Aslan’s looking for is some humbleness and a demonstration that they’re not hungry for power. As long as what Caspian says sticks to that overall theme then it’s OK.
And yeah, he’s a hotty. So that’s good too.
I’m so psyched for this movie that I don’t even care. And yeah, he’s hot. It’s all good.
Didn’t they do a lot of simultaneous filming for the next movies? So yeah, he’d have to show an older age right now…
Caspian is 13 in Prince Caspian, 16 in Dawn Treader and 66 in The Silver Chair. I would guess that they are going to use a different actor for Silver Chair.
OP should be worried about a bigger problem: Prince Caspian is a cylon.
Doesn’t Caspian meet his future wife in the Voyage of the Dawntreader? Maybe they went slightly older because of that.
If they play him as 17, I can live with it.
It has always seemed to me that he quits being a boy, sharply and painfully, the moment he realizes that everything he thought was true about the universe–his Uncle’s affection, the history of his family, all of it–is a total lie. The rest of the novel is about how he then grows into a man.
That moment of epiphany still gives me chills–it was my favorite scene in the whole series.
Are they? I was assuming it would work like the Harry Potter series, where the actors are already visibly older than their characters.
I was just reading today online about how Disney is almost certainly waiting to gauge its return on Caspian before funding any more Narnia movies. They have something working for Dawn Treader, but only vague director ideas for Silver Chair. Sorry, I can’t find it again.
Caspian in Silver Chair is all over the map age-wise, though. First (in the book; who knows how they’ll film it) he’s only seen from a distance, non-speaking, and so decrepit Eustace doesn’t recognize him. Then in the flashbacks, he’s middle-aged, and at the very end, he’s rejuvenated to DT age. Still, aging him up for those first two appearances shouldn’t be difficult.
Ben Barnes was 26 while filming, and in the trailers that I’ve seen, doesn’t look much older than William Moseley (Peter) who just turned 21. I always got time impression in the book that he was either Peter or Edmund’s age, but not as wise as either due to his upbringing, so it makes sense to me that they would cast someone who looks about as old as Peter.
Of course, I’m hideous at judging ages, and am definitely influenced by Ben Barnes’ role in Stardust as the younger version of Dunstan Thorn.