The Chronicles of Narnia? In the year of our lord 2026? Everything that’s old is new again? Incredible! The first trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has just dropped. Directed and written for the screen by Greta Gerwig (of Barbie and Ladybird fame), I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t entranced by the trailer for all two minutes and 40 seconds.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s the trailer:
The Magician’s Nephew was actually the sixth book written in CS Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series, but it was written as a prequel, so it’s actually the first book in the chronological timeline. This is not something I was aware till, uh, today actually. When my parents first bought me this huge, beautiful collection book with every single entry bundled into one single book, The Magician’s Nephew was the first story I saw when I flipped the cover.
Maybe that’s why it’s left such an impact on me. They always say your first is the most impactful. Like Final Fantasy X.
Anyway, The Magician’s Nephew always felt more impactful to me because of just how imaginative the whole book is. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is epic, sure, but The Magician’s Nephew really spoke to me as a kid who was just learning about magic and the idea of there being different worlds to explore. Gerwig’s adaptation seems to understand that. The London scenes are grey and drab, but the movie explodes into screaming color as soon as there’s magic in play.
Can I just say that it’s incredibly funny that Daniel Craig is playing Uncle Andrew here too? Craig was in the movie adaptation of The Golden Compass (awful movie, though I hear the TV adaptation fares much better), part of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series which, notably, was written to be very anti-religion and anti-Narnia by extension. Maybe “anti-religion” is a little too strong, but that series certainly frowns upon the notion of blindly following religion. Put Craig in more things, please. Just no more Knives Out movies. I can’t stand those.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew comes to theaters on Feb. 12, 2027.
