Nicolai Haugsted
Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s classic tries something new that none of the previous films have done—and it’s actually quite clever.
Magical worlds, talking animals, and the battle between good and evil have made C.S. Lewis’s tales of Narnia some of the fantasy genre’s most beloved stories.
For generations, both children and adults have followed the adventures of the mysterious land hidden on the other side of an ordinary wardrobe.
Now, Netflix is preparing to revive the famous fantasy universe with a new major film that will introduce Narnia to an entirely new audience.
However, director Greta Gerwig has chosen to do something no previous film adaptation has dared to attempt.
This breaks an almost 60-year-old tradition when Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew premieres in 2027.
Netflix Takes a Completely Different Path
Since Narnia was first adapted for television in 1967, the story of the four Pevensie siblings has been the natural starting point for the narrative.
Their discovery of a magical wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has thus formed the basis for all major film and TV versions of C.S. Lewis’s fantasy universe.
Netflix, however, has chosen to return to the events before the famous wardrobe even existed.
Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film is based on the novel The Magician’s Nephew, which was published in 1955.
The book serves as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and tells how Narnia was originally created.
Although the novel was published five years after the original Narnia story, its events take place earlier in the universe’s chronology.
This choice means that Netflix will, for the first time, launch a major live-action film series with the story of Narnia’s creation rather than the adventure of the Pevensie children.
This gives the audience the opportunity to experience the beginning of the entire story before the familiar characters even enter the magical land.
Farewell to the Four Famous Siblings
Previous adaptations have all centered on the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie.
During World War II, the siblings are sent away from London and housed with Professor Digory Kirke.
Here, Lucy discovers a wardrobe that serves as a portal to Narnia, where the children later meet the lion Aslan and the formidable White Witch.
The story was first adapted as a British TV series in 1967.
An animated version followed in 1979, while the BBC produced a larger series from 1988 to 1990, which also included several of the subsequent books.
For many film fans, however, Narnia is especially associated with Disney and Walden Media’s 2005 film adaptation, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The film was a major international success and was followed by sequels Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Netflix now chooses to go even further back in the story and introduce entirely different main characters.
The Story Begins Long Before the Wardrobe
The plot of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew follows the boy Digory Kirke and his friend Polly Plummer, who live in London around 1900.
The two children discover that Digory’s eccentric uncle Andrew is experimenting with mysterious objects that can open connections to other worlds.
With the help of magical rings, the children are transported to a special place from which they can travel between different universes.
Their adventure leads them, among other places, to the ruined world of Charn, where they awaken the powerful and dangerous ruler Jadis.
She later becomes known as the White Witch, who plays a crucial role in the subsequent Narnia tales.
Along the way, Digory and Polly also witness an event that has never before been shown in a major film adaptation of the books.
They experience how the lion Aslan creates Narnia itself through his song.
The film will also tell the story of how the famous wardrobe came to be.
Thus, several of the fantasy universe’s most iconic elements will receive their own origin story.
Big Hollywood Names to Bring Narnia to Life
Netflix has assembled a remarkable team for the upcoming fantasy film.
David McKenna plays the young Digory Kirke, while Beatrice Campbell takes on the role of Polly Plummer.
Actress Emma Mackey, known to many from the Netflix series Sex Education and the film Barbie, will play Jadis.
Meanwhile, Hollywood veteran Meryl Streep is attached to the role of the mighty lion Aslan.
Behind the camera is Greta Gerwig, who achieved enormous success in 2023 with Barbie.
The director has signed an agreement to write and direct two Narnia films for Netflix.
The streaming service secured the rights to develop films and series based on C.S. Lewis’s popular book universe back in 2018.
The project has therefore been under development for several years, but the latest information about the cast and the film’s plot has provided a clearer picture of Gerwig’s plans.
Netflix Bets on a New Beginning
The choice of The Magician’s Nephew is not necessarily as surprising as it might initially sound.
Although the book was the sixth of the seven Narnia novels to be published, it serves as the chronological beginning of the entire story.
C.S. Lewis himself expressed that the story of Narnia’s creation was a natural place to start if one wished to follow the events in their chronological order.
Netflix thus has the opportunity to build the fantasy universe from the ground up and present its mythology before the story of the Pevensie children begins.
At the same time, the new film series differs significantly from previous adaptations, which have already told the story of the magical wardrobe numerous times.
However, this does not mean that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has necessarily been dropped.
On the contrary, Gerwig’s first film can serve as a foundation for later stories, where the audience already knows the background of Narnia’s most famous characters and places.
Netflix has not yet announced a comprehensive plan for which books, if any, will be adapted after Gerwig’s two planned productions.
