Carey Mulligan Joins Netflix’s Narnia Reboot (& It May Be a Prequel)

The much-anticipated Narnia reboot from Greta Gerwig (Barbie) is slowly starting to come into view, and today brings two big developments for the franchise’s reinvention. THR is reporting that Carey Mulligan (Saltburn, Maestro) has joined the cast in a key role, though the report also states that Gerwig is not adapting The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first this time around. Instead, she is adapting The Magician’s Nephew, which is actually a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

While The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the most popular and well-known of C.S. Lewis’ famous franchise, it’s not the first in the story’s timeline. The Magician’s Nephew was released in 1955 and is actually the sixth book released in the series, but timeline-wise, it takes place before the original book.

The Magician’s Nephew follows Digory and Polly, who live in London and end up being jettisoned to an unknown world thanks to the magical meddling of Digory’s Uncle Andrew. They then learn of a world called Narnia, a world born from the song of the great Lion, Aslan, but they also discover an evil sorceress named Jadis along the way.

While casting is still ongoing, there are a few roles just about locked in. Mulligan is joining the cast as Digory’s mother, who is extremely sick, while Daniel Craig will play the role of the would-be magician Uncle Andrew. Meryl Streep will be voicing the King of Kings, Aslan, while the villainous sorceress will be played by Emma Mackey.

[RELATED: Netflix’s New Chronicles of Narnia Reboot Release Window Revealed (You’ll Have to Wait)]

Gerwig is a huge fan of the series and is dedicated to remaining authentic to the world Lewis created. “It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions,” Gerwig told Time. “As a child, you accept the whole thing — that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.”

Netflix on IMAX

Netflix is excited to bring the franchise to its platform as well, and is planning a full IMAX release to go with it. The adaptation will receive an exclusive IMAX theatrical release before streaming on Netflix, and during a previous earnings call, CEO Ted Sarandos stated it would last two weeks.

“Our core strategy is to give our members exclusive first-round movies on Netflix,” Sarandos said. “The Narnia IMAX release is a release tactic. We routinely release movies in theaters a couple of weeks before [they come to Netflix] to qualify for awards, to meet festival requirements, and to pump publicity a bit.” The CEO emphasized that while these theatrical releases are common practice, the Narnia release is specifically designed as “a two-week special event.” In addition, this approach appears to be focused exclusively on IMAX screens, with Sarandos noting that “it’s very differentiated from other runs because I doubt anyone has a screen as big as an IMAX screen. Doing it with IMAX greatly simplifies our release process.”

The franchise’s first three books were previously adapted by Disney, bringing in 1.5 billion over the course of 2005’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 2008’s Prince Caspian, and 2010’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The franchise also includes The Horse and His Boy, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle.

Are you excited for the new Narnia film? You can talk all things movies and Narnia with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!