Narnia: First Official Look At Daniel Craig's Magician In Netflix Movie

By Sandy Schaefer
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc covered in sunlight in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Netflix
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"Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" will act as Greta Gerwig's follow-up to "Barbie," and we can say this much: She certainly isn't playing things safe. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker and, let's not forget, performer took quite the swing when she adapted Mattel's mega-popular multimedia property into a jubilantly colorful (and musical) live-action tentpole. Of course, it all worked out in the end, with "Barbie" obliterating box office records as part of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, all while inspiring loads of discourse about the movie's take on feminism, gender, and patriarchy. But how does one even go about angling to top an achievement like that?

If you're Gerwig, it seems you try your hand at turning C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" stories into a pretty wild-looking, big-budget Netflix film. "The Magician's Nephew" is the second-to-last Narnia book that Lewis published in his lifetime, yet the 1955 novel serves as a prequel to the other entries in his esteemed fantasy saga. It's also never gotten the live-action movie treatment before, making this entire venture that much more intriguing ... all the more so because Gerwig appears to be going with a very unexpected aesthetic for her picture.

Case in point, we've received our first look at Daniel Craig as the titular magician, Andrew Ketterley, courtesy of Empire, and it's definitely not what we were anticipating. Check it out, below:

Daniel Craig is 'the stupidest magician in the world' in Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc wearing a fez in a bathtub in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Netflix

You've seen him play the world's greatest spy in the James Bond movies and the world's greatest detective, Benoit Blanc, in Rian Johnson's "Knives Out" whodunnit films. Now, prepare to watch Daniel Craig play, er, the world's most incompetent magician? That's how Craig and Greta Gerwig describe the former's character in "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew," anyway. As Craig explained to Empire:

"I'd like to say that his intentions are good, but I'm not sure that they are. It's not to say that he's cruel and mean and awful. He gets overexcited about what could be, and therefore overlooks the people around him and the consequences of what he's doing."

Gerwig is even franker in her diagnosis, telling the outlet, "He's the stupidest magician in the world who actually made magic." That sounds fittingly whimsical for a Narnia movie, but it's the visual style of these sneak peek images that really grabs your attention. The first look pic of Meryl Streep as Aslan revealed that the famously magical lion (and not-so-subtle Jesus Christ stand-in) who created Narnia in the first place has been given a makeover inspired by none other than 1970s-era David Bowie. Now, this still of Craig in the film, along with the one that Empire dropped of "Barbie" veteran Emma Mackey as Jadis, the White Witch (eventually), wearing a shimmering silver sequined gown, suggests Gerwig is embracing this '70s glam rock and British prog musical sensibility throughout the movie.

Whether it works or not, you've got to admire the boldness of adapting Lewis' religious allegory this way. "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" will open in theaters on February 12, 2027, before streaming on Netflix the following April.

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