First trailer for Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ draws praise and reservations from C.S. Lewis fans 

The first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s new Narnia movie has sparked lively debate among fans, who have offered differing opinions on everything from its use of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven to its cosmic imagery.

The trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew debuted Tuesday and gained more than 12 million views in less than 24 hours, reflecting intense interest in the movie amid ongoing discussion over Gerwig’s decision to cast Meryl Streep as Aslan, the lion who represents Christ in Lewis’s fictional world.

The trailer did not reveal Aslan’s speaking voice – he roars at the end – but offered a glimpse of the story and Gerwig’s approach to bringing it to the screen.

“Sometimes one story is the beginning of all the others,” a male voice is heard at the beginning of the trailer, a nod to the story within The Magician’s Nephew, in which C.S. Lewis tells the story of Narnia’s creation. Published in 1955 as the sixth installment in the seven-book series, the novel serves as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Netflix will release The Magician’s Nephew in theaters Feb. 12, 2027.

Text in the trailer invites viewers to “Experience the Chronicles from the Very Beginning” and describes the film as “based on the beloved story from C.S. Lewis.”

“Do you believe in magic?” Polly Plummer asks in the trailer, to which her friend Digory Kirke responds, “I don’t know.”

Capturing Narnia?

The trailer begins with the two friends discovering the magical wardrobe and ends with a cosmic image of Aslan. In between, it shows them exploring other worlds, along with scenes of bomb-ravaged England and an appearance by the White Witch.

Aaron Earls, a longtime reader and commentator on C.S. Lewis who operates TheWardrobeDoor.com, expressed reservations about whether Gerwig’s vision would capture the spirit of the books.

“While I will wait until I see the finished movie to make a full judgment, the trailer only further confirmed my earlier suspicions,” Earls told Heartlander News. “This will likely be a beautiful, thought-provoking Greta Gerwig fantasy movie, but I’m not sure it will be a beautiful, thought-provoking Narnia movie.

“The trailer gave us an exciting glimpse into her vision for the world. I’m still just waiting to see if that includes or is consistent with C.S. Lewis’ vision for Narnia. My prayer through all of this is that more people will be drawn into the Narnia of Lewis’ creation, dive deeper into his writing, and encounter the true Lion of Judah.”

On the fan website NarniaWeb, two longtime staff members – known online as Glumpuddle and Impending Doom – discussed what intrigued them about the trailer.

“I’m open to going to see this movie and getting caught up in the emotion of it,” Glumpuddle said. “I think Digory and Polly are going to really work.”

But Glumpuddle questioned whether the rock and roll and “shiny excessiveness” will work and draw in Narnia fans.

“It’s probably not gonna change any opinions,” he said of the trailer. “If you’re excited, you’ll still be excited, and if you’re not, you’re not. That’s where we are for the next four months.”

Both praised the wardrobe design and said the trailer’s opening 40 seconds would likely appeal to fans seeking a more traditional depiction of Lewis’s world.

“Overall, [I am] feeling a little bit disappointed,” Doom said. “… We didn’t get to see a lot of Narnia itself.”

Doom added that the look of Narnia in the film could “be the deciding factor of how I feel about the production design and the look of the movie itself.”

Gerwig told media members Tuesday that Lewis’ works were an essential part of her childhood and that “film and faith have always gone hand in hand.”

Meanwhile, the trailer also won praise from some Christian writers and commentators.

Author Drew Dyck, an acquisitions editor at Moody Publishers, wrote on X after watching the trailer: “Crap. I like it.”

(Image credit: Netflix)