While a sequel to Great Gerwig’s Barbie remains uncertain, the in-demand filmmaker is hard at work putting the finishing touches on her epic fantasy film Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. As a way to tease fans looking forward to the upcoming feature, Netflix shared the project’s title treatment, a behind-the-scenes photo, and the first look at the mighty Aslan, voiced to perfection by Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep.
While commenting on Streep’s casting, Gerwig said, “I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness. Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight. I wanted someone who was older than 70, so there was a wisdom of experience, but who also had the capacity of fresh wonder, like a child. And also to be one of the greatest actors to ever do it. That list is not a long one.”
For the ambitious feature, Greta Gerwig brings C. S. Lewis‘s beloved story The Magician’s Nephew to the screen for the first time in a sweeping adventure that invites dreamers of all ages to experience the creation of Narnia. The film arrives in theaters worldwide on February 12, 2027.
Leading up to the film, Gerwig has been vocal about her Narnia film being a dream come true, as she’s been a fan of the otherworldly universe since childhood.
“I was a child when I first read The Magician’s Nephew, and I fell in love with the gorgeously improbable but completely brilliant concept of a cosmic lion singing the world of Narnia to life. I didn’t know that I would grow up to make films, but a universe built out of music is an idea that always lived in my heart. It is the honor of a lifetime to be asked to imagine it into being. Because of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, I believed in magic and hidden worlds and adventure. I believed that anywhere could be enchanted and that anyone could be swept up into an epic. That wonder and awe was available to everyone, even ordinary people like me…It transformed me.”
Gerwig directs Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew from her own script. David McKenna, Beatrice Campbell, Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, and Ciarán Hinds lead the cast, with Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Denise Gough, and Susan Wokoma.