New York: Netflix has unveiled the first trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, the highly anticipated fantasy adaptation directed by Greta Gerwig, marking her first feature film since the success of Barbie in 2023.
The trailer was premiered at a special IMAX event in New York City on Tuesday, October 13, where Gerwig joined television host Stephen Colbert for a discussion about the film and its connection to C.S. Lewis’s celebrated The Chronicles of Narnia series.
Based on Lewis’s novel, the film follows two children, Digory and Polly, played by David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell, who discover a magical passage connecting different worlds.
Their adventure begins when Digory’s uncle, Andrew Ketterley, portrayed by Daniel Craig, introduces them to enchanted rings capable of transporting them into unfamiliar realms.
The trailer also introduces Emma Mackey as Jadis, who later becomes the White Witch, alongside the mythical lion Aslan, voiced by Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep.
Carey Mulligan, Ciarán Hinds, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Denise Gough and Susan Wokoma are also part of the ensemble cast.
One of the trailer’s most distinctive features is its use of Led Zeppelin’s classic Stairway to Heaven, reflecting Gerwig’s ambition to incorporate music into the film’s storytelling.
During the premiere, Gerwig revealed that she approached band members Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for permission to use the song, explaining that its themes of spirituality and temptation complemented the film’s narrative.
Gerwig also discussed her longstanding connection to Lewis’s work, describing the Narnia books as an important part of her childhood.
The director addressed the spiritual themes embedded in the novels, explaining how her own religious upbringing had influenced her approach to filmmaking.
While the trailer offers a first glimpse of Aslan, Streep’s casting as the iconic character has generated discussion among fans familiar with previous adaptations.
The upcoming film represents a significant investment in the Narnia franchise for Netflix, which acquired the rights to develop new adaptations of Lewis’s books.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is scheduled to open in cinemas on February 12, 2027, before becoming available on Netflix on April 2, 2027.
The film will introduce a new generation of audiences to the origins of Narnia, nearly two decades after the last instalment in the previous film series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was released in 2010.
