Daniel Craig teases his role in ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’: ‘Overexcited about...’
Daniel Craig is taking on a new role in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew.’ The actor will play Uncle Andrew, a magician who has spent his life tinkering with magical objects and artifacts. His experiments set the story in motion and draw his young nephew, Digory, and his neighbor, Polly, into a strange new world. Craig has played James Bond for 15 years and later played detective Benoit Blanc in the ‘Knives Out’ films. Uncle Andrew sees Craig take on the role of a magician, even when he fails to understand its risks.
Craig told Empire that Andrew is not simply a cruel man. He becomes so focused on what magic might achieve that he fails to consider the people who could be affected. “He gets overexcited about what could be,” Craig said, “and therefore overlooks the people around him and the consequences of what he’s doing.” Gerwig has offered her own blunt description of Andrew. She called him “the stupidest magician in the world who actually made magic.”
That idea is central to the character. Andrew has spent years studying magical objects and experimenting with forces he does not fully understand. The consequences of Andrew’s experiments also connect the children to major figures in Narnia, including Aslan and Jadis. Emma Mackey will play Jadis, while Meryl Streep will voice Aslan. Streep's casting fits Gerwig's approach to the character. The director wanted an actor who could bring wisdom and authority to Aslan while also capturing a sense of wonder and curiosity.
Greta Gerwig has also given Aslan a new visual design. The character will have heterochromic eyes and a red-striped face, with a look inspired by David Bowie. Craig has a personal connection to the Narnia books. He first read ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ as a child and remembers being so absorbed that he stayed up all night to finish it. “I stayed up all night and read it,” Craig told Empire. He recalled that it was the first time he had started a book and finished it near dawn.
Gerwig’s next major feature follows ‘Barbie,’ which earned more than $1.4 billion worldwide in 2023. Her adaptation will focus on C.S. Lewis’ ‘The Magician’s Nephew,’ which serves as an origin story for the world of Narnia. Gerwig is also moving the film’s setting into the 1950s.
The new adaptation will explore Lewis’ story and its cultural influences while creating a fresh version of the fantasy world for the big screen. David McKenna will play Digory, with Beatrice Campbell as Polly. ‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ will arrive in cinemas on February 12, 2027, before streaming on Netflix from April 2, 2027.
