Posted in: Movies, Netflix | Tagged: the chronicles of narnia, the magician's nephew'

The Chronicles of Narnia: Carey Mulligan In Talks To Join The Cast

Carey Mulligan is in talks to join the first film in The Chronicles of Narnia, which will be an adaptation of The Magician's Nephew.

Published Tue, 20 May 2025 15:17:07 -0500

by Kaitlyn Booth

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Article Summary

Carey Mulligan is in talks for a leading role in Netflix’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.
The film will adapt the prequel story, starting the Narnia series in chronological order, not publication order.
Emma Mackey, Meryl Streep, and Daniel Craig are also attached, with Greta Gerwig set to direct the project.
The movie is slated for an IMAX theatrical release on Thanksgiving 2026, launching on Netflix in December.

Netflix's adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia continues to fill out. Or they are working on filling it out since it seems like there hasn't been much in the way of confirmations one way or another yet for anyone involved with this project. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Carey Mulligan is in negotiations to join the cast in a "key role." It sounds like we finally have some details about where they are going with this and it's not what everyone is going to expect.

: London, United Kingdom – February 18, 2024: Carey Mulligan attends the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall in London, England. Editorial credit: Fred Duval / Shutterstock.com

: BARBIE – LA PRESS JUNKET PHOTO CALL JUNE 25, 2023 – Director/Writer Greta Gerwig attends the BARBIE Press Junket Photo Call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA – Photo by Eric Charbonneau

: London, United Kingdom – February 18, 2024: Emma Mackey attends the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall in London, England. Editorial credit: Fred Duval

If you've read all of the books, you know that the sixth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, titled The Magician's Nephew, is actually a prequel. And instead of kicking things off with book one as everyone expected, they are going in chronological order. We also have some information about the other casting announcements. Emma Mackey is set to be Jadis, the White Witch, with Meryl Streep voicing Aslan, and Daniel Craig will be the uncle. Mulligan is reportedly set to play the sickly mother of Digory.

The Chronicles of Narnia And Adapting "Foundational" Pieces Of Media

Several book series are considered "foundational" when it comes to genres, and The Chronicles of Narnia is absolutely one of those book series. Between 2005 and 2010, three of the books were adapted to the big screen with pretty decent results. The books aren't massive in length like Dune is, so there wasn't a need to cut too much out. They also have definitive beginnings, middles, and endings, making them pretty ripe for adaptation. However, like all media involving children, the passage of time, delays, and dwindling box office returns got in the way of future movies.

Netflix acquired the rights to make more films and television series based on the books back in 2018, but it took quite a while for the streaming service to get anything off the ground. Following the massive success of Barbie, it was pretty clear that director Greta Gerwig could do anything she wanted, but she signed on to do The Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix. The last time we heard about the production, they wanted to start in 2024, but unless that happened while no one was looking, that didn't quite happen. We also don't know how Netflix is planning to adapt these books.

Much like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, when you're doing a franchise where your cast is children, you are on a very strict timetable, or things start to get weird regarding aging. See all the jokes about the final season of Stranger Things. The first film will get an exclusive IMAX theatrical run during the Thanksgiving 2026 weekend, all launched on Netflix in December.

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