I'm already convinced adapting The Magician's Nephew first is a genius move for Greta Gerwig's Chronicles of Narnia

Over the last week, Netflix finally pulled back the curtain on its upcoming Chronicles of Narnia film from Barbie writer/director Greta Gerwig. This movie has been in the works for a while now, but both Gerwig and the streamer have kept their heads down, working on the project and waiting for just the right moment to reveal exactly what they were cooking up.

That moment has come, and it's already upended any expectations I had for the film. Empire Magazine ran a slate of coverage about Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, which graces the cover of the current issue, and it features first-look images as well as interviews with Gerwig and its cast — which includes Meryl Streep as the deific lion Aslan, Emma Mackey as the nefarious White Witch, and Daniel Craig as the self-centered magician Andrew Ketterly. From these first bits of coverage alone, it's clear that Gerwig's "rock opera" vision for The Magician's Nephew is going to make it one of the most unique and interesting adaptations of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books that we've ever seen.

That's a relief on a few different levels, but the largest is that adapting The Magician's Nephew first was always kind of a wild idea. While it takes place first chronologically, The Magican's Nephew is actually the second-to-last book that Lewis wrote in the series, and one of the lesser-loved of the bunch. It's not that people dislike this book, but compared to the truly iconic works like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or Prince Caspian, it simply doesn't hold the same place in many readers' hearts.

The Magician's Nephew will give fans a totally new kind of Narnia film

As it turns out, The Magician's Nephew's status as a lesser-known entry in the series may be one of the greatest advantages that Gerwig and Netflix have going for them. There have been a number of adaptations of Narnia over the years, especially the first and most famous book Lewis wrote for the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. As such, when Gerwig's new take on the franchise was announced, it was hard for me to drum up too much excitement. How many times do we really need to see Aslan contend with the White Witch, or Edmund Pevensie give in to the folly of Turkish Delight?

That's where the brilliance of Gerwig's decision to start with The Magician's Nephew becomes apparent. This story depicts how Narnia was first created by Aslan, how the White Witch Jadis ended up there, and where Professor Diggory got that wardrobe that would one day transport the Pevensie children to their grand adventures. But given its place deep in the mythos of the series and the fact that it's an entry of middling popularity at best, it has never before been adapted to the screen.

That means that Gerwig can fulfill two sides of the same coin with one movie. She can reboot a beloved fantasy series that is among the most recognizable in the genre, while still providing a totally fresh take on that universe in a way that would have been impossible if she were just re-adapting its more well-trod entries.

The Magician's Nephew allows Greta Gerwig to fully unleash her creativity

Beyond all that, there's also the fact that, as I mentioned, The Magician's Nephew is rarely regarded among peoples' favorite Narnia books. It's not bad; it's simply outshined by the more outstanding entries. Because of that, fans are much less likely to get up in arms if Gerwig takes creative liberties than they would be with, say, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Though of course there will always be exceptions, such as the outcry from some Christian fans over Streep's casting.)

We saw with Barbie that Gerwig shines brightest as a creator when she has free reign to totally unleash her creativity, painting on the biggest, most colorful canvases possible. By adapting The Magician's Nephew first, she found a way to organically bring that sensibility over to Narnia. From the first photos of the film, it's already clear that it made for a similar sort of magic. In fact, Gerwig even wrote her first draft of The Magician's Nephew during the same lockdown-driven burst of creativity where she penned Barbie. It seems safe to expect a similar sort of creative eye to come to the forefront here.

And while I've downplayed the popularity of The Magician's Nephew a bit, Gerwig is the one person whose love of the text is essential for this thing to work. From the sound of things, fans can rest easy on that front.

“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,” Gerwig told Tudum. “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.”

The C.S. Lewis Company, which manages the rights to Narnia, also had nothing but glowing things to say about how Gerwig has handled this adaptation.

“It’s incredibly moving to see how deeply Greta Gerwig has embraced C. S. Lewis’s world, and infused Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew with joy, heart, and genuine love for the story,” reads a statement from the company on Tudum. “We’re so excited for audiences everywhere to experience her vision — and to share the magic of Narnia with a whole new generation.”

With The Magician's Nephew, it's starting to feel like Greta Gerwig has cracked the code for adapting a long-established franchise once more for the screen while keeping it artistically fresh and interesting. Given her track record as a writer and director, it seems safe to say that the world of Narnia couldn't be in better hands.

Narnia: The Magician's Nephew premieres in theaters and IMAX on February 12, 2027. Its streaming debut on Netflix will follow on April 2, 2027.

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