Original ‘Narnia’ Star Reacts to Greta Gerwig’s Reboot: “It’s Speaking to a New Generation”

Gerwig’s upcoming reboot isn’t coming in theatres anytime soon, but Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’s actor might be the first to go and get a ticket when it’s out.
Even though the omnipresence of all kinds of remakes has been pretty annoying to modern audiences recently, some reboots of the timeless classics are what many are looking forward to, and Greta Gerwig’s Chronicles of Narnia is one of those.
Announced a couple of years ago, the first movie will be adapting “The Magician's Nephew”, a prequel book to “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, with many new stars joining the leading cast.
However, the future movie is also exciting news for some of the original movie franchise’s actors, including Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’s Ben Barnes.
Ben Barnes Praises Greta Gerwig’s ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Reboot, Says He’s “Thrilled” to See the Story Back
The actor previously starred in 2008’s Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian as, well, Prince Caspian and since then kept all of his warm feelings about C. S. Lewis’ story, revealing that he’s excited to find out what Gerwig will turn it into on the screen.
“With classic literature, there’s no end to the ways they can be adapted as long as it’s being fresh and it’s speaking to a new generation”, Barnes said in an interview with Variety during the Los Angeles premiere of his new miniseries The Institute, adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name.
The actor also added that Chronicles of Narnia is definitely one of those stories that are able to offer “beautifully allegorical stories about hope and goodness and faith”.
“I think that it’d be really interesting to see her take on that. I’m thrilled that [“Narnia”] is getting retold”, Barnes stated.
Who Is in ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ Reboot Cast?
The rumours about the upcoming remake’s star-studded cast has been circulating in the media for quite a while now, though most of those remain unconfirmed at this point.
So far, Sex Education’s Emma Mackey seems to be Gerwig’s top choice to portray the White Witch, while Meryl Streep is rumoured to take on the role of Aslan, a talking lion and one of the essential figures in the book series.
Apart from that, Carey Mulligan and Daniel Craig were also rumoured to be in talks for the movie, potentially playing Digory’s mother and Uncle Andrew respectively.
The movie is currently scheduled for a release on November 26, 2026, eventually coming to Netflix sometime during the Christmas season.