If the mention of Turkish delight brings back memories of a certain silver filigree box, lined with sheets of fine tissue paper, full to the brim of sweets worth betraying your family for, then you are probably eagerly anticipating the cinematic return to Narnia. And last week, we got a glimpse of what we can expect.
In a glam-rock, psychedelic fever dream of a trailer, we see Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep accompanied by an epic soundtrack featuring Led Zeppelin’s (famously tricky to license) “Stairway to Heaven.” The trailer oscillates between a gray, post-Blitz London and electrifying new worlds, before the two begin to collide.
The Plot
Greta Gerwig’s adaptation plays out C.S. Lewis’s classic story, The Magician’s Nephew. Set before the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia, the book explores how Narnia came to be through the adventures of two young children, Digory and Polly. After exploring the study of Digory’s uncle, an amateur magician, and touching a magic ring, Polly is transported to another world. Digory follows her using a second ring given to him by his uncle, and they begin to traverse different worlds, eventually accidentally unleashing the White Witch.
Who’s in the Cast?
Daniel Craig plays Andrew Ketterley, Digory’s uncle and the titular magician, whose experiments set the story in motion, while Carey Mulligan plays Digory’s seriously ill mother. Emma Mackey plays the gloriously villainous White Witch – seen in the trailer astride a horse in a dazzling chainmail mini-dress, galloping furiously through the streets of London. Meryl Streep voices Aslan, the noble and justice-seeking talking lion.
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Greta Gerwig’s Trippy Vision for Narnia
Gerwig looks set to take Narnia in a decidedly unexpected direction. The director has cited David Bowie’s 1960s-era aesthetic as an influence, and the first trailer’s blend of surreal imagery and classic rock certainly suggests a departure from the franchise’s previous adaptations. The music is no afterthought, either: Gerwig has described Narnia as a world shaped by music, despite confirming that the film won’t be a musical. And with Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, her Barbie collaborators, composing the score, this new chapter looks poised to bring a fresh musical sensibility to Lewis’s much-loved universe.
At the trailer’s New York premiere, Gerwig spoke with Stephen Colbert about her lifelong love of C.S. Lewis’s work, explaining how deeply the books had influenced her. To prepare for the movie, she reread Lewis’s works, and it seems that her commitment has paid off. After visiting the set, Lewis’s family released a statement describing the “sincere passion” they witnessed in Gerwig.
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Release Date
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on February 12, 2027, with exclusive IMAX previews beginning February 10, 2027. The movie will then begin streaming on Netflix on April 2.
