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In addition to confirming that Meryl Streep is officially playing Aslan in Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, we also finally have our very first official look at David McKenna as Digory, Beatrice Campbell as Polly, and Emma Mackey as Jadis (before she becomes the White Witch we all love to hate in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).
The film has been talked about for years but aside from some behind-the-scenes leaks, we haven't gotten an official first look at any of the characters...until now.
Keep scrolling for your first look at David McKenna as Digory, Beatrice Campbell as Polly, and Emma Mackey as Jadis in Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, coming to Netflix and theaters in 2027.
Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia: The Magician's Nephew' takes us into the 1950s.
Netflix/Courtesy of Empire Magazine
Thanks to Empire Magazine, we have our first look at this new version of Jadis. It's officially confirmed that Greta Gerwig is moving the timeline of the story from the 1900s to the 1950s, so Jadis is wearing what appears to be a disco-inspired outfit. It's honestly a very cool look when you think about it from the perspective of armor.
“David Bowie saved my life. Paul McCartney saved my life. David Gilmour saved my life. Pete Townshend saved my life," Gerwig tells Empire. “When I heard their music, I had this deep sense of [thinking], ‘You’re gonna be okay.’ Narnia is literally a world made out of music. It is a world sung to life by Aslan, and rock ’n’ roll to me felt like a world made out of music.”
Alongside Digory and Polly, we can infer that this still comes after the kids find themselves in the world of Charn, and wake Jadis up. It doesn't take long for the trio to get stuck together — and for the kids to bring Jadis into a yet-to-be-created Narnia.
But Greta Gerwig ALWAYS has a plan.
Netflix
Honestly, as a diehard fan of the books, the time jump makes me a little nervous (and I don't even want to think about the ramifications for placing the Pevensies in the '90s). But hearing Greta Gerwig's vision gives me some hope...and the reassurance that every choice she makes happens for a reason.
"[Post-WWII kids] had this relationship to pain and loss and something as unpromising as a bomb site, and they made a castle,” the Barbie director says. “They made a universe. They made something you could live inside of...I don’t know how you went from David Jones to David Bowie unless you went to Narnia and you saw something."
Netflix/Courtesy of Empire Magazine
I'm also very intrigued by the concept that Aslan looks like a combination of multiple animals; his nose looks like reptilian scales, the fur under his eyes looks like tree rings. It's like he's got butterfly wings, different feathers, and fur all in one.
And as far as the Meryl Streep casting? “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,” Gerwig tells Empire. “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.”
What do you think about our first look at Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew? Let us know on Facebook.
