First Look at Emma Mackey in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’

More Narnia. This time, our first look at Emma Mackey as Jadis, and the image confirms that this will be a very different interpretation of the character first portrayed by Tilda Swinton two decades ago.

Lewis' origin story catches the future White Witch long before she's frozen Narnia into a hundred-year winter — she's still stuck in the ruins of Charn, waiting for two kids dumb enough to wake her up. Mackey describes her Jadis as "all chaos and bad plans," which she says is lifted straight from Gerwig's script.

Charli XCX was originally circled to play the White Witch — she apparently bombed her audition — and seeing this, I understand why — the costume and hair are pure punk, and Mackey looks less like a sorceress than someone headed out for a nightclub.

Worth looking at how hardcore Narnia fans are reacting to this photo — some are accusing Gerwig of injecting paganism into Lewis's story. The reaction says less about the photo than about how much suspicion the project has accumulated since Gerwig signed on — the Aslan casting rumors alone kept religious commentators busy for months.

It’s quite clear Gerwig is making a 'Narnia' movie purists feared most — and she's doing it with a rock and roll soundtrack, a '50s setting, and Meryl Streep as Aslan, a character Lewis wrote as Christ, now voiced by a woman. All for Netflix, with an IMAX release attached.

Gerwig is coming off "Barbie," a $1.4 billion cultural phenomenon. She had attached herself to "Narnia" before "Barbie" opened, probably with no idea how huge that film would turn out to be. Once "Barbie" finished its run, Gerwig reportedly threatened to drop out of "Narnia" unless Netflix gave it a theatrical rollout. She got her wish.

The ‘Magician’s Nephew’ cast: Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey, David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell. The film is set to hit theaters worldwide February 12, 2027, then Netflix on April 2.