Watch: Digory Actor David McKenna Stars in New ‘Lord of the Flies’ Trailer
Before landing the lead role of Digory Kirke in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming adaptation of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, Belfast-born actor David McKenna was already busy with another high-profile project.
In September 2024, McKenna filmed a new BBC television adaptation of Lord of the Flies, based on the classic novel by William Golding, and we now have our first look at that performance with the release of a 40-second teaser trailer!
Though brief, the trailer features McKenna throughout and he can be heard at the 12-second mark delivering a line of dialogue: “There’s more littluns than I remember on the plane. We need to think about food and shelter.”
McKenna plays the role of Piggy, one of the central characters. Here’s a synopsis from BBC:
“Lord of the Flies is the story of schoolboys stranded on a tropical island with no adults, following a deadly plane crash. In an attempt to remain civil they organise themselves, led by Ralph and supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy. But when Jack becomes more interested in hunting and vying for leadership, he soon begins to draw other boys away from the group and, ultimately, from hope to tragedy.”
NarniaWebbers in the UK will be able to watch all four episodes of Lord of the Flies on BBC iPlayer starting February 8, with BBC One airing the series weekly from 9pm that same night.
For those keen to learn more about David McKenna, a 2022 spotlight on The Stephen Nolan Show offers a more personal look at his journey, including the serious health challenges he’s faced growing up and his early passion for theatre.
Will you be checking out McKenna’s performance in Lord of the Flies before seeing him as Digory?
A much more noticeable Belfast accent than I was expecting! I wonder if he will use that for Digory as well?
I guess It wouldn’t be totally our of keeping with Digory’s meta-role as a CS Lewis proxy character in both MN and LWW if he did..
This is exactly how I imagined Piggy when I read the book. But Ralph and Jack are nothing like the book characters.
I won’t watch the series, because the book was very difficult for me and caused a lot of emotions, including not the most positive ones.
David’s personal story, dealing with ill health and mortality at such a young age, and receiving something to giving a long and joyful life, is literally the plot of magicians nephew, his casting is written in the stars
He’s had some challenges during Narnia too hence the delays we saw last year
Puffa, what challenges did he face while filming Narnia?
Looking forward to checking this out for David!
Such a sad and disturbing story/role to make your professional acting debut in. Kudos to him for landing both roles. Seems like he’s due for sort of a breakout year!
Puffa and Orsha – I don’t think we need to be speculating about his health.
No absolutely which is why I won’t elaborate but it did impact the schedule heavily in autumn
I love him as Piggy but he’s terribly miscast as Digory, i’m sorry to say that. Digory is a country boy, healthy, fit, strong, energetic, adventurous, not a Piggy type. His casting ruined the film for me unfortunately, it’s that bad.
I think the casting for Digory and Polly is very strong and I’m wishing both actors all the best in Narnia. That said, I’ll pass on this project so I can see David McKenna in the role for the first time with no pre-conceived ideas about the actor.
Nina Gold did the casting for Lord of the Flies and Narnia.
W, She probably spotted David during the auditions for Lord of the Flies and then recommended him for the role of Digory. Otherwise, it’s a very strange coincidence.
I’ve just seen the first few minutes of episode 1. Piggy wakes alone in the jungle, shouts hello to seek others, sings a little ditty to himself, looks for food unsuccessfully.
David is likeable, chubby-cheeked, and sensible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UNPmvcwfLc
NZ Television is now streaming it.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/lord-of-the-flies
It’s important to remember that David is two years older than when he played Piggy. He was only 10 when cast in that, and he was already 13 in MN filming. I expect to see some differences.