The Chronicles of Narnia is back after almost two decades off-screen, but some changes have been made that are sure to ruffle a few fans’ feathers.
Empire recently dropped several first-look images of the upcoming Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, the first installment in Netflix and Greta Gerwig‘s blockbuster reboot of the fantasy franchise. The images feature Daniel Craig‘s Uncle Andrew, Emma Mackey‘s Jadis, David McKenna‘s Digory, Beatrice Campbell‘s Polly, and Meryl Streep‘s Aslan.
Yes, you read that right; Streep is indeed voicing Aslan, the mythical lion at the heart of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. In The Magician’s Nephew, Gerwig has reimagined Aslan with heterochromic eyes and a bold, red-striped visage, which both pay tribute to one of her key creative inspirations: David Bowie.
As for Streep’s casting, Gerwig had the following to say:
“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.”
If it wasn’t made clear in the above image featuring Mackey’s Jadis in London, Aslan’s redesign (and possible gender change) is not the only major departure Gerwig’s film is making from the source material. The Magician’s Nephew has been moved from the 1900s to the 1950s, the timeline of the Narnia books centered around the Pevensie children.
Why the change? Well, from what one can gather from Empire‘s coverage, Gerwig wanted Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew to be “a rock opera. I wanted it to be big and transporting.” So she turned to the sheer creativity of British rock music from the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“David Bowie saved my life. Paul McCartney saved my life. David Gilmour saved my life. Pete Townshend saved my life. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant…” Gerwig reels off. “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,” she explained. “It is a world sung to life by Aslan, and rock ’n’ roll to me felt like a world made out of music.”
So, by updating the timeline, Gerwig is offering an explanation as to how the kids of grey, muted 1950s Britain became the vibrant, ceaselessly imaginative ‘70s rock heroes that illuminated Gerwig’s world.
“They had this relationship to pain and loss and something as unpromising as a bomb site, and they made a castle,” Gerwig said. “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.”
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew hits theaters (with a wide release, no less) on February 12, 2027, before arriving on Netflix on April 2, 2027.
What do you think of the changes Gerwig has made to The Chronicles of Narnia? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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