By John Corrado

We now have our first trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. This is Greta Gerwig’s take on the classic C. S. Lewis series, with the Lady Bird, Little Women and Barbie filmmaker putting her own spin on it. The rock music influences that Gerwig has hinted at are certainly felt in this trailer, which is set to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

I’m a big fan of Gerwig’s work, and I’m very curious to see what she brings to Narnia, or if this turns out to be an overly ambitious (and very expensive) misfire that misunderstands the source material. Gerwig has certainly made changes to the book, some of which are glimpsed in this trailer, starting with switching the Victorian setting to the 1950s, and a glam rock take on the White Witch (played by Emma Mackey). One of the most controversial elements has been the gender swapped casting of Meryl Streep as Christ-like lion Aslan, who isn’t shown until the end of this trailer.

We get some nice cinematography and a lot of CGI fantasy imagery. But it’s too early to say how exactly this will turn out. I’ll reserve judgement until seeing it. There is certainly a lot riding on this film, and Netflix surely wants it to be a hit. They are even giving it an extended theatrical and IMAX run starting February 12th, 2027, before it lands on their streaming service.