Emma Mackey Cast as White Witch in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia
Emma Mackey is heading to Narnia.
The Barbie actress will work with director Greta Gerwig once again, as she has been cast as the White Witch in the upcoming Narnia film that's in the works for Netflix, according to multiple outlets.
In the role of the White Witch, named Jadis, Mackey will play the primary antagonist in the world of Narnia, the character who casts the spell of endless winter.
Emma joins a cast also set to include Daniel Craig as uncle of Digory Kirke, and Meryl Streep as lion Aslan the Great, according to Deadline. Further details have not been shared, however the film is currently set to have a Christmas 2026 Netflix premiere after running in IMAX theatres for two weeks prior.
Netflix shared news of their plans to adapt the series in 2018.
"C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix said in a press release at the time. “Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come.”
The 2026 film will mark the first Netflix Narnia adaption, although the streamer has not announced their future plans for the series. The upcoming movie will reportedly adapt the sixth novel in the series, The Magician’s Nephew, which tells the origin story of Narnia, according to Deadline.
Netflix's adaptation will not be the first time the Narnia series has been brough to life on film. Disney released three films based on the books in 2005, 2008 and 2010 starring Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Georgie Henley and more before the remainder of the book adaptations were abandoned.
However, Gerwig is excited to bring the books back to life on screen as she takes on the fantasy project.
“I’m slightly in the place of terror because I really do have such reverence for Narnia, I loved Narnia so much as a child," she said on BBC Radio 4 in January 2024. "As an adult, C.S. Lewis is a thinker and a writer. I’m intimidated by doing this. It’s something that feels like a worthy thing to be intimidated by.”
She echoed the sentiment the next month, when she shared she hopes to make the adaptation "feel magical."
“C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books are something that I’ve loved since I was a child. I would say the two big books of my childhood were Little Women and the Narnia books. So I had that instant excitement, but instant terror that comes from trying to tackle something that has shaped me," the Little Women director said in her interview for TIME's Woman of the Year. "I want to make it feel like magic.”
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