Will Emma Mackey Be a More Book-Accurate White Witch? | Talking Beasts
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Last week, we saw the first official casting announcement for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia movie! Following in the footsteps of Barbara Kellerman and Tilda Swinton, Emma Mackey will be the next actor to portray the iconic White Witch. Listen to our reactions to the news and then post a comment below.
Watch the post-show chatter.
I would recommend pple search up Emma Mackey’s impersonation of Hermione Granger, she is clearly a character actress with a knack for “play” and also a literary graduate, who’s been yearning for a big movie break after strong work in Tv
Hey guys, just a head-up Netflix has its comic-con version of its event called Tudum on May 31, 2025. So if you guys are really waiting for “big news” to show up it possibly might be in this event, this is live on YouTube cause it is like a live stream event so my prediction is the reason why Netflix is not spilling a lot of news (tea) because they are trying to create stir and agitations with some leak news that seems “off-putting” but rational news like with Jadis so when people get to the event of Tudum they just reveal everything like some Avengers news casting. This tactic they must have planned very carefully to really control the narrative of the media to try build-up some certain hype even though it stir a lot of emotions noted currently in the media.
@ProfessorDigory If that’s the case, then I find it odd that they’ve said nothing in the month since the Meryl Streep news broke considering the harsh backlash. I don’t think it’s been helping build interest and hype, especially among true fans. It just doesn’t sound like good PR to me, but I also don’t work in PR to be fair.
Can we please retire the word “iconic”. No one is using it correctly.
@Just Queen, not High Queen, I understand what you mean for me I can just say it kinda relate to this industry where there is a saying like “Any press is good press” whether it is good or bad in terms of how it is perceived because Netflix I feel is employing this tactic to draw attention whether it is like driving in a swarm of wasps. I think from Greta Gerwig she is trying focus on working on the actual script so she might ask Netflix to handle any news related to it and possible their way of handling is a bit “chaotic” in a sense but this does not really reflect what Gerwig is doing right now cause she has not spoken out or talked about it as she working on it, I can say Netflix is the “meddling middle man” in this whole situation to distract the media to give Gerwig time to work on her actual work, like when she did Barbie she was approach by Margot Robbie to write the script which she ask for “alone time” to work with her partner on the script before the finish it and after a long other third party who working on making the film to read it and from there she possibly ask to direct the film for Barbie if she had a vision to bring justice for the film leading to what we see in 2023. I believe she had already written a script she feels sure of and from there she is slowly responsible of assembling the production of how the vision of the film should look like, while Netflix is controlling what media should be out or not. I mean I am putting my perspective to what is being done behind the scenes to rationalize why we are observing the silence in the news about the movie.
To be fair Barbra Kellerman actually doesn’t look like a normal person in BBC. I know it’s not exactly what the book describes but the makeup really makes me think she’s not human. Swinton gave a great performance but I never thought she wasn’t human even though her heir and height kind of did that. I don’t think you’re supposed to think human looking at the character.
I related to at least one thing that each podcaster said in this episode. Like Gymfan, I don’t recognize Emma Mackey by sight, but I think she’ll be, at the very least, OK as Jadis and maybe really good. Like Rilian, I feel like the Meryl Streep thing has kind of soured me on this project so I’m not as excited as I’d normally be. And like Glumpuddle, I find it refreshing that the first definite casting choice is so noncontroversial. LOL.
Re: A younger actress coming off as a spoiled brat rather than legitimately intimidating. That actually might work for The Magician’s Nephew. When Aunt Letty and the other Londoners that don’t know about the rings see Jadis, they think she’s a big diva but then she starts tossing grown people across rooms and tearing crossbars off lampposts. Maybe it could be the same for the audience. Personally, I don’t feel like mid to late twenties is that young.
P.S.
I feel like “no publicity is bad publicity” used to be the case but it’s not true these days.
Tilda Swinton all the way.
As a Charles Dickens fan, what Rilian said about certain adaptations not really being for fans of the source material and how it feels like they’re trying to trick people into watching them summarizes how I feel about Steven Knight’s adaptations of A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations.
Thinking about Meryl Streep and the talk you had earlier in this episode about hinting the older/deeper magic brought me to some ideas. Imagine Meryl Streep being Aslan but not a lion.
From what we see in the books every world has his own appearance of Aslan. Our world’s Aslan is supposed to be Jesus. Narnia’s Aslan is, well Aslan. When we look at this. we see a male saviour in a patriarchal society. It’s a lion in a animal world, and I wouldn’t be surprised by a mother like figure in a world like charn which looks to be a somewhat matriarchal world. So she could play the Aslan figure of Jadis’ homeworld. Maybe Jadis will even partially see her instead of a lion during the creation of Narnia.
Just my 2 ct.
Mackey seems like a great pick. It’s funny/sad to me that half of the episode was dedicated to the Meryl in the Room, but it just goes to show what a cloud that report has put over all other news for this project. I understand and relate to everything y’all had to say about the difficulty of feeling excited, just now. I think many of us haven’t “thrown in the towel,” but we’re prepared to. We’re holding our breath, for sure.
Ultimately, it’ll come down to the writing if it’s accurate to the book or not. But she’s got a cool look to her that could fit Jadis.
Fun episode by the way! I would also love some general MN anticipation/expectation type podcasts to go along with these news reaction type episodes if possible.
If you had asked me a year ago, her name wouldn’t even come up in my mind as a possible White Witch, but now I just can’t unsee it. Ever since I saw her for the first time in Netflix’s Sex Education, I always thought she was very talented and had a noticeable passion in her gaze, in her acting, in her voice. Yes, she’s young; but I think she can definitely do something cool with Janis, and I’m very excited to see how she strikes with this challenge… let’s just hope that the rest of the casting goes good as well.