Emma Mackey to Star as Jadis the White Witch in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia
Less than 48 hours after it was first revealed that Emma Mackey and Margaret Qualley had reached the final stage of screen-testing for the role of Jadis in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ film, The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed that British-French actress Emma Mackey has won the highly coveted role.
The move sees Mackey reunite with director Greta Gerwig, having previously worked together on ‘Barbie’ where she played the role of ‘Physicist Barbie’. Mackey’s other previous cinematic roles include playing author Emily Bronte in the 2022 biopic ‘Emily;, and a supporting role in Kenneth Brangah’s adaptation of ‘Death on the Nile’ from the same year.
She also followed in the footsteps of former Narnia stars James McAvoy and Will Poulter by winning the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2022.
In securing the role of Jadis, Emma Mackey not only saw off stiff competition from pop superstar Charli XCX and current Academy Award winning Best Actress Mikey Madison, but also strong interest from the likes of Daisy Ridley, and long-term Gerwig collaborator Saoirse Ronan over the past few months.
An excellent choice! Mackey is a phenominal actress
Yesssss she’s absolutely perfect
Honestly, I’m encouraged by how quickly they cast the White Witch. Emma Mackey feels like a strong, fitting choice.
And the fact that they haven’t officially confirmed anything about Aslan yet actually gives me even more hope.
Maybe they’re listening. Maybe they’re being more careful than we thought.
Being “cautiously optimistic” sounds a little too strongly optimistic for the moment…but I’m more interested than I was.
I liked the look of Margaret Qualley better since she came across as a little younger. (Don’t ask me what the actresses’ actual ages are.) But I’m sure Mackey will be fine or better. It’s nice to have an actual casting choice confirmed. Prior to this, all we heard about were actors in talks for roles and sometimes just actors in talks to be in the movie without any specific roles mentioned.
Congratulations to Emma Mackey! Being able to be part of Narnia film history is a very exciting and special thing. 🙂
I would like to be more excited about this casting, but I continue to be very concerned about the film because of the alleged changes to Aslan… I sincerely hope that will change in the future, but right now it’s very distressing to see The Hollywood Reporter reiterate that Meryl Streep is “in talks” for the role. =/
I definitely preferred her over Margaret Qualley or Charli XCX for the role. Very excited and encouraged by this news!
Seems like a fine choice, but I’ll admit, my feeling is “Okay, whatever. You’re never going to beat Tilda Swinton!”
I do find it interesting that she’s one of the actresses considered a Margot Robbie look-alike.
One report said that Saoirse Ronan was also being considered. I am actually glad she is not cast as Jadis as I think she would be great as the Lady of the Green Kirtle.
I feel there may be some overthinking, from the two actresses, the tall British actress she worked with would have been the clear choice
So with Meryl, is it not just her playing the elderly prickly aunt, somng she did in Little women – a film that had quite conventional casting choices
I have no idea who this is, but at least she is an actor and not a music star.
She’s an actress, so that’s a plus. The bar seems so low at this point. She’s a rising star and well-regarded, so that’s good. But until other roles are confirmed, I’m not really interested anymore.
Surely, as @Alex Anaros speculates, Meryl is in talks for Aunt Letty, and there was a major miscommunication regarding the whole Aslan business. It just makes no sense, business-wise, to sabotage your franchise with such a fundamental change that will alienate and depress audience turnout.
Emma Mackey looks fabulous, though I can’t speak to her acting ability.
But at the time of my posting this comment, several hours later, in response to potentially very exciting news, I’m only the 12th comment here. And the Meryl Streep story further down the news page has 120 comments, the vast majority of disappointment and discouragement. I find that very telling.
So….yeah. Hoping the powers that be take notice.
@Forrest, I’m normally a pessimist but somehow, I keep thinking that we’re going to hear that the Streep thing isn’t happening after all. As you say, it just makes no sense!
This is a little out-there, but I would prefer to see Meryl play an older Polly. She could feature at the end of the film, when it talks about how Polly and Digory remained friends, and perhaps even make a cameo in LWW and meet the Pevensie children, along with a return in TLB.
@Col Klink
I mean, I agree with you. My mind is split. One half is in a slump at the report. The other half rejects it as absurd, just absurd; surely it’s nonsense and not happening!
Truthfully, I was quite optimistic up until the Meryl report, then my interest dropped like a stone. The Charli xcx report was minorly dispiriting, but she’s clearly lost out on the role. So at this point, the other “in talks” reports could just as likely change. Daniel Craig hasn’t officially been cast as Uncle Andrew either. So…we’ll see!
The first official casting announcement! A major “this is real” moment!
Yay! Our first official casting announcement! She seems like a pretty reasonable choice – probably even a really good choice to play Jadis too. I’m glad she’s not a big name A-lister or anything.
Whilst I’m pleased with this news, I’m still kind of on the fence regarding the Meryl Streep rumour – as good of an actress as she is, my feelings on that rumour are fairly similar to others expressed here… I’m hoping for some announcement explaining the context of the choice or denying it soon.
With the first pick in the 2025 Narnia draft, the Sacramento Gerwig selects Emma Mackey, actress, France!! LET’S GO!!! This is a casting announcement I can get behind!
@fantasa, I can speak for her acting ability I saw her in kenneth branagh’s death on the nile, she’s a tremendous actress
On IMDB, they added Daniel Craig :
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9077514/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_2_unrel_c_1
A perfectly reasonable and solid choice to portray a book-accurate Jadis!
She definitely looks the part!
For me, I feel that the character wouldn’t suit him well. Maybe he’ll surprise us, but he has to be like the first movie, showing courage and everything else
This is such a far cry from about 3 years ago when there was zero production news! 🙂
Congratulations, Emma. It’s nice to have a new face and name in the Narnia movie family! 🙂
She looks like a Jadis! It’s really nice to have a role cast at last!
Shaping up to be a total disaster.
@ProfessorDigory Just because it’s on IMDb, doesn’t mean it’s official, since anyone with a free account can add information to IMDb. It’s great for indie filmmakers like myself to add smaller projects on there, but it’s not the most reliable source.
Phew! I’m so glad that Greta Gerwig’s production team has found someone who could carry off Jadis well, aka the White Witch. Her best scenes are all about breaking rules of one kind or the other. Can she ride a horse? Or balance herself on the hood of that Hansom Cab? That is all I ask.
From when I first saw your guys’ pic with Emma and Margaret next to each other, I thought, “Yeah, Emma looks more like I’d imagine the White Witch than Margaret.” Great choice!