Psychedelic and exciting trailer for Netflix’s new Narnia

To the sound of “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, Greta Gerwig unveils the first images of The Magician’s Nephew, a great fantasy adventure carried by Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey and Meryl Streep.

“Have you ever witnessed the birth of a world?“

What if the world of Narnia was born in music? Netflix has just revealed the first trailer for Nephew of the magicianthe new film by Greta Gerwig, which tackles for the first time the universe imagined by CS Lewis. A psychedelic dive into a fantastic universe, accompanied by a legendary song: “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin.

The film adapts the eponymous novel published in 1955, which tells the origins of Narnia. It follows Digory and Polly, two English children at the beginning of the 20th century (in the years preceding the First World War) who discover the Wood Between Worlds, a mysterious place opening onto different lands. They will witness the birth of Narnia and encounter extraordinary creatures, but also characters who will play a decisive role in the history of the kingdom.

The trailer notably gives a glimpse of Daniel Craig in the role of Andrew Ketterley, the magician who leads the children into this adventure thanks to rings capable of transporting them from one world to another. Frenchwoman Emma Mackey plays Jadis, the one who will become the evil White Witch and last queen of Charn. She makes a smashing and psychedelic entrance, dressed in a strange 60’s dress, in this cosmic trailer. Ditto for the lion Aslan, mythical defender of Narnia, who explodes into the stars (he will have the voice of Meryl Streep) at the end of the video, like a divine figure.

But the big surprise of these first images is their soundtrack. Greta Gerwig managed to convince Led Zeppelin to grant her the rights to “Stairway to Heaven”, a song that the British group has always been particularly reluctant to allow to be used in cinema and television.

The director wrote to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page to present them with a first version of the film and convince them to participate in the adventure. “It’s an epic song, and narratively speaking, it’s about a spiritual journey, deceptive idols, and the wrong paths one can take. She had all the sense to introduce this universe“, she explains. “I was so moved that they allowed me to use this song. They understood the heart and story of the film.“

For the filmmaker of barbie, Narnia is above all “a world made of music“. A choice which gives this first trailer an almost cosmic dimension, between hallucinatory visions, fabulous creatures and the birth of a world.

Greta Gerwig, who admits to having grown up with the books of CS Lewis, does not hide her attachment to this universe: “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know these books. I wouldn’t be who I am without them.“

The film will also bring together a new generation of actors around David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell, as well as Carey Mulligan and Ciarán Hinds.

On the music side, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt will compose the soundtrack, having already collaborated with Gerwig on barbie. The filmmaker also wrote the screenplay and produced the film alongside Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal and Vincent Sieber-Smith.

Narnia: the magician’s nephew will be released on Netflix in France on April 2, 2027.