Greta Gerwig Says Her Narnia Movie Is Basically a “Rock Opera,” and the First Look Proves It

Greta Gerwig has never approached an adaptation the conventional way, and her upcoming take on C.S. Lewis’s beloved fantasy series is shaping up to be no exception. After years of near-total secrecy surrounding ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,’ Empire has finally begun pulling back the curtain on exactly what kind of film Gerwig has been quietly building.

That reveal arrived through a sweeping new first-look image showing young leads Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, played by newcomers David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell, standing behind Emma Mackey’s Jadis inside a glowing, ornate portal, giving fans their clearest sense yet of the film’s visual scale ahead of its February 12, 2027 theatrical release.

Alongside that image, Gerwig offered her most revealing comments yet about the creative vision driving the entire project, and the description she landed on genuinely surprised fans. Speaking to Empire, Gerwig explained that rather than treating her adaptation as a retread of past Narnia films, she wanted a “rock opera,” built from the ground up around C.S. Lewis’s actual origin story, the one where Narnia itself is born.

First look at Greta Gerwig’s ‘NARNIA: THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’.

In theaters February 12, 2027.https://t.co/2cO9WpDsZW pic.twitter.com/kLcKSbgpp1

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) September 17, 2026

To be clear, Gerwig isn’t making a musical. Instead, she’s described ’60s and ’70s British rock, spanning glam and prog influences alike, as the film’s “creative backbone,” citing figures like David Bowie, Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant as touchstones that shaped her approach to the material. That connection makes a certain amount of sense given the story’s central conceit: Aslan quite literally sings Narnia into existence.

That musical framing extends directly into one of the film’s biggest structural changes. Gerwig has moved the story’s setting from its original early-1900s Edwardian backdrop to postwar 1950s London, transforming Digory and Polly into members of the generation that would eventually go on to produce rock and roll’s biggest stars. Perhaps the most striking line to come from Gerwig’s Empire interview involved her wondering aloud how David Jones ever became David Bowie, “unless you went to Narnia.”

That Bowie connection isn’t just a passing reference either. Aslan’s design in the film features heterochromic eyes and a bold, red-striped face, a direct visual nod to Bowie that’s already generated plenty of discussion since the character’s design was first revealed. Combined with Meryl Streep’s now-confirmed casting as the voice of Aslan, the character represents one of the most dramatic reinventions of any figure across the entire Narnia franchise.

The new image itself, showing Digory and Polly trailing behind Jadis through what appears to be an elaborately decorated portal, hints at the scale and visual ambition Gerwig is bringing to the material, suggesting a production built for genuine spectacle rather than a modest, straightforward fantasy adaptation.

Beyond its young leads, the ensemble includes Carey Mulligan as Digory’s mother Mabel Kirke, Daniel Craig as Uncle Andrew, Ciarán Hinds, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Denise Gough, Susan Wokoma, and Samantha Spiro, among others. The film is produced by Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Vincent Sieber-Smith, and Gerwig herself, with Douglas Gresham and Melvin Adams executive producing on behalf of the C.S. Lewis Estate.

Netflix will handle domestic distribution once the film eventually reaches the platform, while Sony Pictures Entertainment is set to distribute internationally. That distribution split, paired with a full theatrical release ahead of streaming, underscores just how significant Netflix considers this particular production within its broader slate.

‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ arrives in theaters worldwide on February 12, 2027, before streaming on Netflix on April 2. With Empire’s full magazine issue, including complete set visits and additional interviews, set to hit newsstands September 24, there’s plenty more detail still to come about exactly how Gerwig’s rock-and-roll reimagining of Narnia’s origin story comes together.

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