Netflix unveils first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew

A still from Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. Photograph: Courtesy of NetflixView image in fullscreenA still from Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. Photograph: Courtesy of NetflixNetflix unveils first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s NephewThe fantasy epic based on CS Lewis’s classic stars Daniel Craig, Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep

The first look at Greta Gerwig’s vision for Narnia has been revealed.

Today, Netflix is giving a first look at her vision for CS Lewis’s magical world in the trailer for The Magician’s Nephew, the first chronological book in the beloved series.

With the soundtrack of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, the trailer opens with magician Andrew Ketterley (Daniel Craig) intoning that “sometimes one story is the beginning to all others”, as he gives a group of kids a magic ring that will transport them to strange and wonderful lands.

Elsewhere, the trailer gives a first look at many locations and characters familiar to fans, including Jadis (Emma Mackey, the future White Witch) and Aslan, the mythical lion voiced by Meryl Streep.

The Magician’s Nephew tells the story of two children in Edwardian England named Digory and Polly (newcomers David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell) who chance upon the Wood Between Worlds, a realm with many portals to different dimensions. There, they witness the birth of Narnia.

Read moreIn a trailer premiere event in New York this morning, Gerwig spoke of her longtime passion for CS Lewis’s series. “I don’t remember a time I didn’t know the books,” she said, per Variety. “I wouldn’t be who I am without these books.”

The film, which is Gerwig’s first since her $1bn-grossing megahit Barbie, will open for an eight-week theatrical window on 12 February before it streams on Netflix starting 2 April, in the studio’s first global theatrical release.

“I told Ted [Sarandos, CEO of Netflix] I only know how to make movies for the big screen,” Gerwig said. “He said: ‘Make the movie for the biggest screen and trust the process.’”

The director added that she petitioned Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for permission to use Stairway to Heaven in the trailer.

“I talked to them about a lot of the themes of the film,” Gerwig said, as reported by Rolling Stone. “They saw the heart and the story and the drama in it.”

“It’s an epic song,” she added. “It’s about the two paths of good and evil … It is a spiritual quest and a spiritual journey. So to me, this was a song that made sense to introduce the film to the world.”