What is the Narnia prequel The Magician’s Nephew about?

When you think of famous children’s books and fictional, fantasy worlds – Narnia is bound to spring to mind. Over 70 years ago, young readers first followed the Pevensie children through a magical wardrobe and into a new realm full of mythical creatures and adventure.

Fast-forward to 2026 and Netflix has released a teaser for a new adaptation of one book from the series, The Magician’s Nephew. But what is it and what will it be about?

Here, BBC Bitesize takes a closer look at the famous book series, the real stories behind it and the latest film coming to our screens.

Published between 1950 and 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia is a seven-part book series written by Irish-born British author and literary scholar C. S. Lewis. Despite the author only living in Northern Ireland until the age of 10, the places and memories from his childhood are said to have inspired Lewis's writing throughout his life.

The seven books in the series include:

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
• Prince Caspian, The Return to Narnia (1951)
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
• The Silver Chair (1953)
• The Horse and His Boy (1954)
• The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
• The Last Battle (1956)

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of stories set in the fictional setting of Narnia, where magic, talking animals and mythical beasts make up its fantastical world.

Most of the stories involve children going on adventures in this world: perhaps the most well-known book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, tells the story of siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie who are sent to live in the countryside during the Second World War, and discover the land of Narnia in the back of a wardrobe.

In later books, readers are introduced to characters such as Prince Caspian and a boy called Eustace, who is the cousin of the Pevensie siblings.

Over the decades, the books have been read by generations. In October 2026, BBC News reported how a rare first edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - spotted in a charity shop - sold for £1,000.

The Magician's Nephew was the sixth book published in the series, but it is the first story chronologically. Released in 1955, it is the origin story of the world of Narnia and is a prequel to the events in the series. The book follows the story of two children who travel between worlds using magic rings and discover the creation of Narnia by Aslan the lion.

The Narnia books in chronological order are:

• The Magician’s Nephew (takes place in 1900)
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (story begins in 1940)
• The Horse and His Boy (takes place in 1940)
• Prince Caspian (takes place in 1941)
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (takes place in Summer 1942)
• The Silver Chair (takes place in Autumn 1942)
• The Last Battle (takes place in 1949)

The series has many links to significant historical events and religious elements present in much of C.S. Lewis’ own life. In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the children are evacuated from their home in London during The Blitz in 1940.

C.S. Lewis himself housed one evacuee during the Second World War, Jill Freud. She is often cited as an influence on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. During this time, Lewis also became well-known for his wartime broadcasts on the BBC – radio addresses based on his Christian faith which aimed to bring comfort to the nation during the changes brought by the war.

Much of the series was also inspired by Lewis’ childhood in Northern Ireland, where he was born and lived until the age of 10, before moving to England. It is said that he spent his youth reading and writing stories about talking animals, which has manifested through characters such as Aslan the lion.

C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity in adulthood and found that as he worked on his novels and stories, Christian theological concepts began to naturally work themselves into his writing. He asserted that The Chronicles of Narnia are not directly allegorical, however, but suppositional – that Narnia reflects certain aspects of Christianity in a separate, fictional universe.

The Chronicles of Narnia explores many themes across the series, with strong religious and moral philosophy in some of the events in the books. For example, in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the theme of good vs evil is visible in the Pevensie children and Aslan’s attempt to free Narnia from the tyrannical rule of the White Witch.

The theme of betrayal appears when the White Witch tempts Edmund to join her side using Turkish delight. This is sometimes considered to be linked to the story of Adam and Eve, and the apple in the Garden of Eden.

Some other themes across the books include:

• Courage
• Personal growth and transformation
• Family
• Spirituality
• Hope

The Chronicles of Narnia was adapted into a BBC television series that aired between 1988 and 1990. It split four of the books – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair – into three series.

By the early 2000s, several of the books were adapted again - but into a film series: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).

The films starred several well-known actors such as James McAvoy (Mr Tumnus), Tilda Swinton (the White Witch), Jim Broadbent (Digory Kirke) and Liam Neeson (Aslan). The Pevensie children were played by William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy).

A prequel is a piece of literature, drama or cinematic work such as films or television series that take place before the events of the original story. An example of this is the recent Hunger Games book and film, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which tells the story of a young Coriolanus Snow before he became the President of Panem - and before Katniss took part in the Hunger Games.

In media, an adaptation is where one piece of work is changed into a different format and may have new or different elements in the story. The most common forms of adaptation include film adaptations, television adaptations, musical adaptations and translations of one work into a different language.

Sometimes there are multiple adaptations of one piece of work. Classical literature is a strong example of this, where books such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein have been adapted into lots of different media types such as films or plays, each with their own distinct styles.

Netflix's upcoming version of The Magician's Nephew will be the first major screen adaptation of the book.

Adaptations of fantasy books have always been very popular, with many seeing even multiple different adaptations. There are too many to name - but through time, there have been several books with similar genres and themes that have been adapted.

This includes The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film franchises, adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings book series.

There's also His Dark Materials, a television series adapted from Philip Pullman’s book series of the same title, and A Wrinkle in Time, a Disney feature film adapted from the Time Quintet book series by Madeleine L’Engle.

The Magician’s Nephew is set to be released in cinemas on 12 February 2027 and will be available to watch on Netflix on 2 April 2027. The film is directed by Greta Gerwig, best known for directing the 2023 Barbie movie and a film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, which was released in 2019.

The cast consists of Emma Mackey (the White Witch), Meryl Streep (Aslan), Daniel Craig (Andrew Ketterley/The Magician) and Carey Mulligan (Mabel Kirke) to name just a few, as well as David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell playing Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, the two main characters.

This article was written in October 2026

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