Carey Mulligan Joins Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia'

Greta Gerwig's The Chronicles of Narnia adaptation is starting to come into focus. The Barbie director has reportedly tapped Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan (Saltburn) to join the cast. And though no one officially involved with the production has said this out loud yet, the news of Mulligan's casting—and more specifically, who she's meant to be playing—confirms that Gerwig's first Narnia film will not be based on C.S. Lewis's first Narnia book, but his sixth. 

Though The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe may have been the first book in the series to be published, it is not the first Narnia story, chronologically speaking. That honor belongs to The Magician's Nephew, the sixth Narnia story to be published, but a prequel that provides a crucial origin story for many of Narnia's most familiar (and powerful) elements. 

Set in Victorian England, the story follows Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, two children who essentially discover the multiverse thanks to their supposedly "mad" uncle Andrew, whose magical rings allow travel between worlds. The pair find themselves in a sleepy woodland known as the "Wood Between the Worlds," where they can visit different realms by jumping into various pools. Their adventures result in the freeing of Jadis, the White Witch, who follows them back to England for a brief attempt at conquest before the entire group finds themselves on the cusp of a world not yet made. Much of the book's hefty middle section mirrors the Biblical account of Genesis, exploring not just how Aslan's world and all its creatures came into being, but the origins of many of the foreign elements of Narnia, including lamp-post, the existence of a human king and queen, and how the wardrobe came to be.

Here's the book synopsis for The Magician's Nephew. 

One touch of a magical ring sends two friends hurtling into another world and accidentally releases an evil sorceress from her enchanted sleep. Hungry for ultimate power, she’s determined to destroy everyone—and every world—in her path. But a song from the Great Lion, Aslan, awakens a new hope and a new world: Narnia, where anything is possible.

Mulligan will reportedly play Mabel Kirke, Digory's desperately ill mother, whose relationship with her son helps him resist the White Witch's temptation at a key moment. (You could learn something, Edmund Pevensie!) She joins Emma Mackey (Sex Education), who is set to play the White Witch, as the only other confirmed member of the film's cast. Rumors have been swirling for some time that several other big names are involved: Oscar-winning Meryl Streep (Little Women) is said to be voicing Aslan, with Daniel Craig (Knives Out) tackling the role of Uncle Andrew Ketterley. We have little information on who will tackle the roles of Polly and Digory, but given that the stars of the film are quite likely to be young and/or unknown actors, that makes sense.

Gerwig wrote the film's script and is directing, though, as least for the moment, she's only committed to doing two Narnia films. In a rare move for the streamer, both movies will receive four-week theatrical runs before their Netflix premieres, so the future of the franchise may well depend on the critical and box office reception the first two films receive. (There's no word yet on what Gerwig's second Narnia project will be, but since The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the next chronological story, it seems a safe enough bet.)

The first installment of Gerwig's Narnia franchise will debut in IMAX theaters the week of November 23, 2026, and move to Netflix the week of December 21, 2026.