Greta Gerwig has found her White Witch for her C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia adaptation as it has been confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter that Emma Mackey is set to portray the agnostic spellcaster.

Netflix is producing the adaptation of the novels, with Gerwig’s film allegedly focusing on the sixth novel, The Magician’s Nephew. Gerwig is writing the script while also being in the director’s chair. This will be the second collaboration between Mackey and the filmmaker, with the former having appeared in Gerwig’s hit of summer 2023, Barbie.

Since the feature was announced to be in the works, there have been various casting rumors circulating about this high-profile adaptation, with even Charlie XCX being rumored to play the White Witch. Eventually, the role came down to between Mackey and The Substance’s Margaret Qualley. Although it appears that this is the only casting announcement for the project so far, there are talks of Meryl Streep joining as Aslan, the talking lion. Mackey’s character, the White Witch, whose true name is Jadis, is the main antagonist throughout the Narnia book series.

Emma Mackey first rose to stardom for her role as Maeve Wiley in Netflix’s Sex Education, but has kept booked and busy since the show ended in 2023.  In 2022, she starred as Emily Brontë in the film Emily, which earned her two British Independent Film Award nominations. She has a leading role in Hot Milk, a feature adaptation of a novel with the same title, which is to be released on July 4 of this year. She is set to make an appearance at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for the debut of Alpha, the newest feature from Titane filmmaker Julia Ducournau. Also this year, Mackey has a leading role in James L. Brooks’ comedy, Ella McCay, which is set to release in theaters on December 12th. Additionally, Mackey will star alongside Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, and Samuel L. Jackson in an untitled J.J. Abrams film.

As stated previously, there have been no other casting confirmations surrounding the feature adaptation, but we can take this announcement as a good sign that more are soon to follow. Greta Gerwig’s Narnia is set to open in Imax on Thanksgiving day 2026, then will release on Netflix the following Christmas Day.