Netflix is bringing Narnia back, but it’s starting with the book nobody expects

Netflix is no stranger to the fantasy genre. The Witcher is closing in on its fifth and final season, Shadow and Bone lasted a couple of years before Netflix pulled the plug, and The Last Kingdom is one of the best historical dramas on any streaming service. Next year, Netflix is taking its biggest swing yet, reviving a classic fantasy in a way that even long-time fans have never seen before.

Welcome back to Narnia

Netflix will revive the classic fantasy story

The Chronicles of Narnia is a set of seven books by author C.S. Lewis. Although the cast of characters changes from volume to volume, all the books take place in the land of Narnia, a magical world populated by talking animals where heroes rise and fall.

The first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, was published in 1950. This is far and away the most famous entry, to the point where even people who have never read it probably know the basics. Four English siblings, the Pevensies, leave their London home in the thick of World War II to stay with Professor Digory Kirke in the country. There, they discover a wardrobe that serves as a portal to Narnia. They meet the wicked White Witch, the divine lion Aslan, and end the story as kings and queens before finding their way back to our world.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was adapted to film in 2005, in the wake of the success of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Two more Narnia movies were made: Prince Caspian (2008) and Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). But after that, interest flagged and plans to adapt more of the Narnia books were abandoned.

Now, over a decade later, Netflix is having another go at it, but they’re not just repeating what the older movies did.

Everyone knows The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe…

But no one knows The Magician’s Nephew

Credit: HarperCollins

The Chronicles of Narnia books trace the history of Narnia all the way through its destruction in The Last Battle. But before writing about Narnia’s end, Lewis wrote about its beginning in The Magician’s Nephew, which was published in 1955. In this book, we meet Digory Kirke when he’s still just a boy, and he and his friend Polly Plummer find their way to the dying world of Charn. They awaken a powerful sorceress named Jadis, who hitches a ride back to Earth.

Finally, Digory, Polly, and Jadis are present at the creation of Narnia, which sets up the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Jadis goes on to become the White Witch while Digory will grow up to become a professor with a portal to Narnia in his spare room. This is an incredibly important chapter in the story of Narnia, but it’s never been adapted for the screen before. By adapting the first book in the saga, Netflix will give long-time Narnia fans something they’ve never seen before, as well as providing newbies with a natural starting point.

Naturally, the idea is for Netflix to turn this into a franchise, so it’s very likely that we’ll eventually see another adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and hopefully other books in the saga. The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, and The Last Battle have also never been adapted to film, so Netflix has a chance to finally bring this iconic series to life in its entirety.

Of course, much will depend on how the first film performs…

Meet the team behind The Magician’s Nephew

Netflix has hired the best

The Magician’s Nephew is directed by Greta Gerwig, who already had hits like Ladybird and Little Women under her belt before she helmed 2023’s Barbie, a massive smash that proved she can handle a major intellectual property like The Chronicles of Narnia. Emma Mackey (Sex Education) will play Jadis while Daniel Craig is Andrew Ketterley, the titular magician. David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell play Digory and Polly, while Oscar winner Meryl Streep plays Aslan the lion.

The Magician’s Nephew will open in theaters on February 12, 2027. It’s important to underline “in theaters.” Netflix has a history of releasing its original movies straight to streaming, but The Magician’s Nephew will be the first Netflix Original Movie to actually get a wide release. That means a lot more people than usual stand to hear about this movie, see it, and fall lin love.

We return to Narnia in just a few months

In the meantime, you can rewatch the Narnia movies from the 2000s, seek out the books, or take in some of the many fantasy stories that have been inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia. For instance, The Magicians is a take on the Narnia story that’s been aged up a bit for more mature audiences, and that’s just to start.