In 2018, Netflix announced that it was making a series of films based on The Chronicles of Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, with Barbie director Greta Gerwig at the helm. It's taken a few years for the project to get off the ground, but it's finally moving forward. Deadline now reports that English actress Emma Mackey will play the role of the White Witch, the villain from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. She was famously played by Tilda Swinton in the 2005 movie.
The White Witch is also the villain in The Magician's Nephew, which is chronologically the first book in the timeline; it's looking more and more like Netflix will adapt that book first. That's significant because The Magician's Nephew has never been adapted to the screen before; most adaptations skip forward to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the most famous of the Narnia novels.
We know Netflix is working with The Magician's Nephew because Daniel Craig has seemingly already been cast as Uncle Andrew, the titular magician. His nephew Digory and Digory's friend Polly are the first children to tumble into the magical land of Narnia. Aslan the Lion, another iconic figure from the books, will reportedly be played by Meryl Streep.
As for Emma Mackey, she previously worked with Greta Gerwig on the Barbie movie, where she played Physicist Barbie. She also played author Emily Brontë in the biopic Emiliy, but is best known for playing the role of Maeve Wiley in Sex Education, another Netflix joint.
The first Chronicles of Narnia movie, whatever it ends up being, is due out in 2026. It will get a limited run in Imax theaters around Thanksgiving before going to live on the streamer. I wish Netflix would give movies full theatrical runs before tucking them away behind its algorithm, but at least this is a start.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.