Last Month, Deadline reported that Charli XCX was in talks to star in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia.’ She would have been the first official performer to join the cast. The role she was supposed to play was that of Jadis, The White Witch.
However, just yesterday, The InSneider jumped in and said, “Not so fast.” Apparently, Charli XCX was no longer playing the part because, as it turns out, she “bombed” her audition. The role was hers for the taking, but something happened during this audition that spawned a bunch of red flags amongst producers, at least enough of them to have Margaret Qualley and Emma Mackey called in to audition as potential replacements.
Turns out, Mackey (“Sex Education”) is finally going to be the one playing Jadis. It’s been confirmed by numerous sources. A done deal. Mackey joins a cast that will also include Daniel Craig, as Uncle Digory Kirke, and more controversially, Meryl Streep as lion Aslan the Great.
“Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” which has an IMAX November 2026 release, despite persistent complaints from most exhibitors, is set to start production in July. A recent report (via Observer) claimed that the budget for the film would probably “exceed” $200M.
Before “Barbie” hit big, in the summer of 2023, Gerwig had already signed on for two ‘Narnia’ adaptations over at Netflix. However, word recently got out, via Bloomberg, that with or without Gerwig, Netflix were planning to produce eight ‘Narnia’ movies in total. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gerwig plans to shoot both of her films back-to-back to get it all over and done with.
As for Charli XCX, the mega-popular “Brat” singer-songwriter, she only recently made her move to acting, having already shot four films, three of them set for 2025 premieres: Greg Araki’s “I Want Your Sex,” Cathy Yan’s “The Gallerist” and Romain Gavras’ “Sacrifice.” The other one, Goldhaber’s “Faces of Death,” is in distribution limbo.