Barbie director Greta Gerwig is following the 2023 mega-hit with Narnia: The Magician's Nephew for Netflix. Now, a first official look at the filmmaker on set has been revealed, along with the movie's logo (via SFFGazette.com).
In case it wasn't obvious, Gerwig is adapting C. S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew, where the touch of a magical ring sends two friends hurtling into another world. They accidentally release an evil sorceress from her enchanted sleep.
Hungry for ultimate power, she’s determined to destroy everyone—and every world—in her path. But a song from the Great Lion, Aslan, awakens a new hope and a new world: Narnia, where anything is possible.
The movie stars David McKenna, Beatrice Campbell, Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Ciarán Hinds, Daniel Craig, and Meryl Streep. It was recently confirmed that, following IMAX previews on February 10, 2027, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew will be released theatrically on February 12, before streaming on Netflix on April 2.
It will become the first Netflix movie to receive a wide theatrical release, suggesting the streamer is confident Gerwig has delivered a movie that can be a theatrical and streaming success for the company.
"C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books are something that I’ve loved since I was a child," Gerwig previously said. "I would say the two big books of my childhood were Little Women and the Narnia books. So I had that instant excitement, but instant terror that comes from trying to tackle something that has shaped me. I want to make it feel like magic."
"There’s a euphorically dreamlike quality to Lewis’s writing. It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions. As a child, you accept the whole thing—that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic."
She added, "I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them."
Interestingly, this first-look photo appears to confirm reports that Gerwig is shifting the action from late 19th-century Victorian London to the 1950s.
As there's a time jump between this story and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which originally took place during World War II), a similar shift means it would likely be set during the early 2000s, meaning Gerwig could put a new spin on the iconic story if she decides to continue telling stories in this world.
Check out this first look at Narnia: The Magician's Nephew below.