Daniel Craig plays 'the stupidest magician in the world who actually made magic' in Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

After months of quiet anticipation, the curtain is finally being pulled back on Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, the upcoming film from Barbie writer/director Greta Gerwig which will put a whole new spin on C.S. Lewis' classic Chronicles of Narnia series. The children's fantasy books are filled with noble and evil characters, but one of the major figures at the heart of this particular story is neither. That would be Andrew Ketterley, also known as Uncle Andrew, the titular magician — who is more than a bit full of himself and prone to causing all sorts of mayhem.

Andrew is played by Daniel Craig in Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, and it's immediately obvious that this every bit as brilliant a casting from Gerwig as Meryl Streep as Aslan. Craig's career has spanned all sorts of roles, from an ultra-serious take on James Bond to the eccentric private investigator Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson's Knives Out movies. Andrew Ketterly may not have the heart of Benoit Blanc, but he fits right into that same vein of eccentricity, for better and worse.

“I’d like to say that his intentions are good, but I’m not sure that they are,” Craig told Empire. “It’s not to say that he’s cruel and mean and awful. He gets overexcited about what could be, and therefore overlooks the people around him and the consequences of what he’s doing.”

Gerwig puts Andrew into an even more succinct and hilarious perspective: “He’s the stupidest magician in the world who actually made magic."

What to expect from Daniel Craig's magician in Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

While The Magician's Nephew was the sixth book that C.S. Lewis wrote in The Chronicles of Narnia, it takes place first chronologically. It shows how the world of Narnia was born, how the White Witch arrived there, and how the Professor from the original novel — who is just a kid in this one — ended up with the magical wardrobe that led to Aslan's realm.

As such, Andrew Ketterly is a hugely important figure in the overall mythos of this series. His nephew, Diggory, grows up to become the Professor who the Pevensie children stay with in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Diggory and his friend Polly are the main characters of The Magician's Nephew, where they're roped into a world-hopping experiment by the self-centered Uncle Andrew.

Despite Andrew's ultimate importance in this tale, The Magician's Nephew does tell his story in full. We're unlikely to get repeat appearances from Craig in the role if Netflix and Gerwig make sequels, but rather one complete story in this film that tells us everything we need (or want) to know about the devious magician.

For Craig, entering the world of Narnia is a full-circle moment. He told Empire about his very first memories with the series, when he was first introduced to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe as a child.

“I stayed up all night and read it,” he recalled. “It was the first time I started a book and finished it near dawn, and I’d never read a book cover-to-cover before.”

No doubt we'll learn more about Uncle Andrew and his curious nephew Diggory as we get closer to the film's release. Narnia: The Magician's Nephew debuts in theaters and IMAX on February 12, 2027, and streams on Netflix starting April 2, 2027.

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