Netflix reveals date and cast for ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ – but who is playing Aslan?

Fans of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia had plenty to digest in recent days when Netflix unveiled not only the core cast of its new film The Magician’s Nephew but also the release date and a quote from director Greta Gerwig pledging to be faithful to the story, calling the project an “honor.”

The biggest news to emerge from Netflix’s news release was the company’s decision to give The Magician’s Nephew a traditional theatrical rollout – a rare move for a streaming giant that typically centers releases around its own platform but that bowed to pressure from Gerwig, who wanted it on the big screen.

Although Netflix has released films in theaters before, The Magician’s Nephew marks the company’s first major wide theatrical release with an extended exclusive window, lasting roughly 50 days.

The film will open in theaters Feb. 12, 2027, with IMAX sneak previews beginning Feb. 10, before arriving on Netflix April 2.

The Magician’s Nephew was the sixth published book in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series but served as the origin story for the fictional universe, telling how the lion Aslan sang the world of Narnia into existence. The Magician’s Nephew was published in 1955.

The movie is officially titled Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.

“I was a child when I first read The Magician’s Nephew, and I fell in love with the gorgeously improbable but completely brilliant concept of a cosmic lion singing the world of Narnia to life,” Gerwig said. “I didn’t know that I would grow up to make films, but a universe built out of music is an idea that always lived in my heart. It is the honor of a lifetime to be asked to imagine it into being.”

One of the biggest and most hotly debated questions – who will voice Aslan? – was left unanswered. Deadline reported last year that actress Meryl Streep was in talks to portray the iconic lion, a casting choice that would spark controversy not only because Aslan is male in C.S. Lewis’ classic stories but also because Lewis acknowledged the character as a symbolic representation of Christ. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is killed and later rises from the dead in one of the series’ clearest biblical parallels.

Netflix did confirm Streep was part of the cast, but also listed nine actors and actresses who will join her in the film. Among them: newcomers David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell alongside Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Susan Wokoma, Denise Gough and Ciarán Hinds.

Netflix did not reveal their roles.

Most fans on the Narnia fan site NarniaWeb, though, are hoping Streep is not voicing Aslan, and they seized on a potential clue this spring when Streep told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show that she had worked on “another film in London” around the time she recorded her brief voice cameo in Project Hail Mary. NarniaWeb speculated that, based on the production timeline for Project Hail Mary, the mystery project was likely The Magician’s Nephew. The fan site further noted that voice actors for CGI characters often record their lines later in post-production rather than appearing on set – potentially suggesting Streep’s role could be someone other than Aslan because she might have been on set.

Of course, the entire theory remains speculative.

“Wikipedia says Ciaran is ‘known for his distinctly deep voice,’” one Narnia fan wrote on NarniaWeb this week. “I think he’s our Aslan.”

“Hoping Meryl is either third person narrator or any role but Aslan,” another fan wrote.

The movie is expected to stay within family-friendly boundaries. Producer Mark Gordon told The Gary and Kenny Show he expects the film will be rated PG, according to NarniaWeb.

Netflix’s news release pledged that its new movie will “match the scale and fandom of C.S. Lewis’s beloved books.”

Gerwig said she “cannot wait for people to see the film in theaters.”

“Because of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, I believed in magic and hidden worlds and adventure. I believed that anywhere could be enchanted and that anyone could be swept up into an epic,” Gerwig said. “That wonder and awe was available to everyone, even ordinary people like me… It transformed me.”