Greta Gerwig Reveals Why She Cast Meryl Streep as the Voice of Aslan in NARNIA: THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW
After the success of her film Barbie, director Greta Gerwig was bestowed by Netflix with the honor of helming a new volume in the classic beloved book series The Chronicles of Narnia.
Her new film will be a prequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, based on the sixth book of seven, and it will be titled Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.
It’s already been announced that the film will star Beatrice Campbell in the role of Polly Plummer, and she will be joined by Carey Mulligan as Mabel Kirke, Daniel Craig as Andrew Ketterley, Emma Mackey as The White Witch, David McKenna as Digory Kirke, Denise Gough, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Susan Wokoma, and Ciarán Hinds in unknown roles, and Meryl Streep as the voice of the great Aslan.
While this was a controversial choice, as Aslan has been previously portrayed as male, and has drawn comparison in the novels to Jesus Christ, Gerwig talked about her choice to cast the multi-hyphenate Academy Award-winning powerhouse actress in the role.
In an interview with Empire, Gerwig explained explained the “list is not a long one” when it came to narrowing down her search for Aslan to Meryl Streep:
“I wanted someone who was profound but not pretentious, who had gravitas but not morose self-seriousness. Someone who could communicate depth and pathos as well as joy and delight.
“I wanted someone who was older than 70, so there was a wisdom of experience, but who also had the capacity of fresh wonder, like a child. And also to be one of the greatest actors to ever do it. That list is not a long one.”
There are not a lot of actors with the depth and gravitas of Meryl Streep. I think she will absolutely do a beautiful job embodying the character that is best known for being majestic, powerful, and deeply compassionate.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will premiere February 12th, 2027 in Imax before its April 2nd Netflix debut.