Narnia: The Magician's Nephew Trailer Released by Netflix

The First Look at Narnia

Netflix released the first trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew on October 13, 2026. The film is written for the screen and directed by Greta Gerwig, best known for Barbie (2023), Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019). The trailer is scored to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, a bold choice that signals the director’s ambitions for the project.

The trailer was unveiled online after Gerwig presented it, alongside behind-the-scenes footage, on an IMAX screen at the AMC Lincoln Square in New York. She was interviewed by Stephen Colbert at the event, discussing the adaptation process and her vision for bringing C.S. Lewis’s world to the screen. The decision to premiere footage in a cinema before releasing it online underscores the film’s theatrical ambitions.

A lion in the Serengeti, used to illustrate the Narnia character Aslan — A lion in Serengeti National Park. Photo: Giles Laurent, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

What the trailer shows

The footage offers a first glimpse of two children in 1900 London: Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer. Through magic rings, the pair travel between worlds and ultimately witness the creation of Narnia by the lion Aslan. The imagery leans into wonder and scale, with sweeping shots of unfamiliar landscapes, glimpses of otherworldly realms and hints at the story’s mythological scope.

The use of “Stairway to Heaven” throughout suggests a grand, almost operatic tone. The trailer does not simply retell the novel; it promises a cinematic experience built around music and scale, consistent with Gerwig’s stated intention to make the film feel like a rock opera. The footage hints at the moment when Aslan sings Narnia into existence, the pivotal scene that gives the prequel its emotional core. Scenes set in 1900 London establish the ordinary world before the story carries its young protagonists into something far stranger.

The poster Netflix had previously unveiled featured a giant silhouette of Aslan with the tagline “A Universe Begins”, offering the first visual hint of the film’s tone before the trailer confirmed it.

The cast

Digory Kirke is played by newcomer David McKenna, and Polly Plummer by Beatrice Campbell, also a newcomer. Daniel Craig takes on the role of the magician Andrew Ketterley, the uncle whose experiments with the magic rings set the story in motion. Emma Mackey plays Jadis, who will later become the White Witch, one of the most iconic villains in children’s literature. Meryl Streep provides the voice of Aslan.

The supporting cast includes Carey Mulligan, Ciarán Hinds, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Susan Wokoma. The mix of established names and fresh faces mirrors the story’s blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary. Craig’s casting as a morally ambiguous magician and Mackey’s turn as the future White Witch add dramatic weight to a story often associated with younger audiences. Having Streep voice Aslan gives the lion a recognisable, commanding vocal presence from the outset.

The book: a prequel set 1,000 years earlier

The Magician’s Nephew is a 1955 novel by C.S. Lewis and serves as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It is set roughly 1,000 years before the events of that better-known story. The book explains how Narnia came to be, how the lamp post in the middle of the woods came to stand there, and how the wardrobe itself was crafted from a tree grown from a magic apple.

This will be the first-ever screen adaptation of the novel. While The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was filmed in 2005 and its sequels followed, the creation story at the start of the Narnia chronology has never been brought to the screen. That makes this adaptation a significant event for fans of the book series, not merely a franchise extension. The novel was published in 1955, seven years after the first Narnia book, and serves as the origin point for the entire world.

For viewers unfamiliar with the source material, the novel functions as both an introduction and a companion to the more famous story. It answers questions raised by the earlier books while standing as its own adventure. The decision to adapt it first, rather than remaking The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, suggests a willingness to trust audiences with a less familiar entry point into the franchise.

Release plan: a Netflix film goes to cinemas first

The film arrives in IMAX and theatres worldwide from February 12, 2027, with IMAX-only sneak previews from February 10, 2027. It streams on Netflix from April 2, 2027. Netflix handles distribution in North America; Sony Pictures Entertainment releases the film in other territories.

This is Netflix’s first movie to receive a global theatrical release, a notable reversal for a company built on streaming. Gerwig moved the film out of a planned November 2026 window and into 2027 specifically to give it that worldwide theatrical run. Some outlets had previously reported the film’s initial planned window as 2026. The decision reflects both the director’s insistence on the big-screen experience and Netflix’s willingness to adapt its distribution model for a prestige adaptation. The April Netflix streaming date gives audiences who miss the theatrical run a second chance to see the film within two months of its cinema debut.

The IMAX emphasis is consistent with the footage that was screened at AMC Lincoln Square. Gerwig chose to premiere the material on one of the largest cinema screens available, and the film’s release plan ensures that the format receives priority in the opening weeks.

Greta Gerwig’s previous work

Gerwig’s last feature was Barbie in 2023, which she directed and co-wrote. Before that, her directorial credits include Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019). She approached Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos at a cocktail party and wrote her first draft of The Magician’s Nephew in 2020 and 2021.

Speaking about the project, she said: “I wanted a rock opera. I wanted it to be big and transporting. Narnia is literally a world made out of music. It is a world sung to life by Aslan, and rock ‘n’ roll to me felt like a world made out of music.” The quote captures the scale of ambition at work. This is not a small adaptation but a large-scale attempt to reimagine a classic children’s story through the lens of popular music and cinematic spectacle.

Her track record offers reasons for both excitement and caution. Barbie demonstrated her ability to handle a major studio property with a distinctive voice. Little Women showed she could adapt classic literature while making it feel immediate. Whether those skills translate to a fantasy prequel scored to Led Zeppelin remains to be seen, but the trailer suggests a director operating with unusual creative freedom on a project that could define the next phase of her career.