Greta Gerwig is busy casting her adaptation of C. S. Lewis’s beloved book series The Chronicles of Narnia, and she has found a perfect person to play the film’s main antagonist. Emma Mackey has been cast as the White Witch, after collaborating with Gerwig on her hit blockbuster Barbie.
Mackey joins the film as the main villain, the White Witch, who has previously been played by Tilda Swinton. The rest of the cast is yet to be announced, but Meryl Streep is reportedly in talks to voice the talking lion Aslan, who guided the human children through Narnia after they entered this mysterious world.
Mackey rose to prominence with the role in the Netflix coming-of-age series S-x Education, and went on to win the BAFTA Rising Star Award. In addition to starring in Gerwig’s Barbie, her notable credits also include roles in Death on the Nile and Emily. She’ll next be seen in Julia Ducournau’s Alpha and James L. Brooks’ Ella McCay.
Greta Gerwig will write and direct the upcoming adaptation of Narnia, which reportedly draws inspiration from the sixth novel in the series, The Magician’s Nephew. It’s eyeing the Thanksgiving Day 2026 release date before heading to Netflix two weeks later, just in time for Christmas.