Jason Isaacs Says Greta Gerwig To Adapt The Magician’s Nephew?
In a recent feature for The Week, acclaimed actor Jason Isaacs revealed his list of favorite books, including The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. In his comments, Isaacs shared a personal reflection on the impact of The Chronicles of Narnia during his childhood and his excitement for Netflix’s upcoming adaptations by Greta Gerwig.
I loved all the Narnia books as a kid. When Peter was told he wouldn’t be coming back, I understood something devastating about mortality. I picked [The Magician’s Nephew] because Greta Gerwig is about to make a film of it, which I can’t wait to see.
Jason Isaacs
Gerwig is currently developing two Narnia films for Netflix. However, it’s worth noting that no official confirmation has been made regarding which books will be adapted first. Netflix’s acquisition of Narnia rights in 2018 has been followed by years of speculation, but The Magician’s Nephew has not been confirmed as part of the initial slate.
Isaacs’ comment raises the question: Is he sharing insider knowledge, or is it just an assumption?
Adding to the intrigue, Isaacs reportedly auditioned for the role of Aslan in Disney/Walden’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe after Brian Cox stepped down in 2004. Although Liam Neeson ultimately brought the voice of Aslan to life, Isaacs’ connection to Narnia makes his recent comments all the more interesting.
Thanks to Icarus for the alert!
What do you think Jason Isaacs’ comment means? Does he have inside knowledge, or is he speculating like the rest of us? And if The Magician’s Nephew is indeed first, how do you feel about starting with that story?
Jason Issacs could be a decent pick for a villainous Uncle Andrew… or perhaps he feels like a second crack at the Aslan role?
Either way, he’s definitely the sort of high-calibre actor I would hope Greta would be talking to for any of the major adult roles – the Walden LWW had an absolutely stellar supporting cast of prestige actors, such as Jim Broadbent and James Cosmo, so they really need to be hitting a similar level.
It could very well be common knowledge among industry insiders.
I feel like we’ve had enough hints now to make a strong case that it’ll be MN.
Although with each passing month with no announcements, I think an end-of-2026 release may be ambitious?
This is the best case scenario for the overall health of the series to survive beyond LWW. So hope Isaacs is correct!
If they do MN first then the adaptions will not be good. It will ruin everything about LWW to already show the witch and Aslan and just the feel of wonder will be gone from it. It does seem like we have hints that way, but I would rather they not.
PLEASE MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Seeing this in addition to Gerwig’s Wood between the Worlds comment makes me fairly confident that MN is it.
And Isaacs could make a good Uncle Andrew!
I’m just reading this more closely, if Isaacs is correct, it doesn’t even mean Greta Gerwig is adapting The Magician’s Nephew first. It could be the second of her two film commitment. Ugh, this is driving me up a wall…
I’ll believe it when Netflix or Greta Gerwig actually confirms it. There have been so few concrete details that any tiny crumb or reference can be used to argue your point of view. This is closer to real than most rumors, but also why would he know this? Could he just be referencing Narnia as a whole?
@decurus These are just rumors, so they could turn out to be true or not. It could go either way. Though I would argue that it wouldn’t be a good idea to start with LWW then it followed by PC, as it has been done before. What if it was started with LWW but was followed by HHB and MN instead of PC and VDT? We could still have LWW first, but the midquel and prequel would be a bit earlier (prequels have been popular in the Hollywood industry). So after MN, continue with PC, VDT, SC, and LB.
@jasmine_tarkheena I like that idea! The only problem would be the ages of the actors for LWW, PC, VDT, and SC if they took a break between LWW and PC.
Even though there is no evidence, I would be more than surprised if TMN was not one of the two Gerwig adaptions. Firstly, she is so interested in the world of Narnia, which is the whole basis of TMN and I truly believe she would want to adapt a book that hasn’t made it to the screen before.
Of course, one fear I have is that if she only does two films (as she’s signed on for), and one of them features the Pevensies, then the project could stall again if someone isn’t on board to continue right where she left off and the actors age too much to return, as would have been the case if Disney had ever got around to The Silver Chair.
Why is Netflix and Greta being so secretive about this? Just come out and say what you’re making already!
@Anthony Doyle, maybe if they are doing The Magician’s Nephew, they’re scared because it’s not as famous as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so they’re going to just call it a Narnia movie and hope people will be fooled? LOL.
Although I’m very much a “publication order purist” when it comes to reading the books, I’m open to a film adaptation starting with MN. Someone here has raised the objection that it would ruin everything to show the Witch and Aslan etc. before doing LWW, which is true enough if one is reading the books in chronological order, because they were written with LWW as the first one and it works on the assumption that the reader hasn’t met Aslan before. But realistically, from a movie maker’s perspective… in today’s world, probably most of the audience for this new adaptation will have at least seen the Walden film of LWW, and some of them will have read the books (in whatever order). LWW is by far the most famous story in the series and it’s been part of the general public “cultural consciousness” for so long now, that even people who haven’t read the book or seen the film will be aware that it begins with a little girl stepping into a fantasy world through a wardrobe, and that there’s a witch who makes it always winter, and the world is saved by a lion who bore obviously stands for Jesus (and he even gets killed and comes back from the dead, just to make the point).
Seriously, most people by now (except maybe for really young children) will know at least that much about LWW. Whereas starting the series with MN means adapting a Narnia book that has never been made into a screen version before, but is one of the most exciting and emotionally moving stories in the entire series, what with the journey to Charn and the creation of Narnia itself, along with Digory’s desperate hope of saving his dying mother. So even though my personal preference for reading the books is definitely LWW first, I can see a lot of sense in starting a new movie series with MN and give the audience something new and different about Narnia that’s never been done as a film before and that many people won’t yet be aware of.
That said, though, this is such a vague rumour that I’m not willing to trust that there’s anything accurate about it until we get some official announcement from Gerwig and/or the Netflix top brass themselves.
The Magician’s Nephew is one of the books that has not been adapted into a film yet. I am all for it. I want a film adaptation for all the films, and this will get us closer to that wish.
@jasmine_tarkheena I want to see new stuff too. I wanted them to do a TV show. It just makes more sense to me. I just think LWW is all about the winder of the snow, and the magical land, and who is the witch, who is Aslan, and I think that is all gone if we meet them already. The deep magic is introduced in LWW. Also, MN and LB are a pair in my mind.
I am also never in with the idea that we can’t start with LWW because they have before. It is the first book and every time they do Harry Potter they are going to start with Sorcerer’s Stone because it is the first book and so is LWW.
Fingers crossed this actually means something… whether Jason Isaacs is involved or not.
It makes most sense to start with The Magician’s Nephew because it is the start of the chronicles and shows the birth of Narnia, the origins of Jadis the White Witch and the origin of the Pevensie children’s introduction to the story. It has always been illogical to start with LWW just because CS Lewis wrote it first. They are all such fantastic stories so good here’s hoping that Netflix can do them justice!
I think it is a wonderful idea to adapt The Magician’s Nephew first because if they do this it gives a clean slate to them where they can focus just on the story without being compared to previous movies. It also gauges the interest of the audience for Narnia stories besides LWW and if there is as gap between it and the others… Well Polly and Digory don’t appear as children again in the series so they do not need to worry about ages.
I should note though that I always read the Narnia chronicles in chronological order as a child and was hooked by the time Digory set foot in Charn, and while I understand that in publication order it builds off of Lewis’ progression in world building, I reason that chronological will not ruin it for others as it did not for me.