‘Narnia’: Emma Mackey Cast As Villainous White Witch In Greta Gerwig Reboot Movie

It’s fascinating to see “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig entering the world of fantasy with a new feature film exploring C.S. Lewis‘ “Narnia,” and the Netflix film project has landed its first big human casting addition.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, British actress Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”) is set to play The White Witch, an antagonist of Narnia, and was an important part previously played by Tilda Swinton. Mackey worked with Greta on “Barbie,” where she had a minor supporting role in the massively popular film, making this a reunion.

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She’ll potentially join Meryl Streep, who is in talks to play Aslan, the Lion.

This casting news comes after premature rumblings that singer Charli XCX, a non-actor, was being courted for the part of The White Witch. However, that obviously didn’t come together with Mackey nabbing the key “Narnia” role.

The report also claims the film will be an adaptation of the 1955 prequel novel “The Magician’s Nephew.”

Here is the Lewis book’s logline from Amazon:

On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then, the lion Aslan’s song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.

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Stay tuned for more casting news as we’re expecting quite the grouping of high-profile actors on Gerwig’s “Narnia.” The pic is also expected to be getting a theatrical run with IMAX, and we’ll likely hear about a release date in the coming months as we get a better idea of when the film will be completed.