Oscar winner Meryl Streep is in talks to play Aslan the Great Lion in Greta Gerwig and Netlfix’s Narnia movie, we have confirmed with sources.
We understand that they’re not at the offer stage yet, however.
In the novels, Aslan is a talking lion who serves as Narnia’s guardian and a guide for the human children. Generally portrayed as a male, Aslan was created as an allegory for Jesus by author C.S. Lewis.
Nexus Point News was first with the Streep talks and also reported that the film will adapt the sixth novel in the Narnia series, The Magician’s Nephew, which chronologically takes place first in the series. The novel tells the origin of Narnia and is centered on Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer who discover the magical world through Digory’s uncle’s magic. The site reports that Aslan will be female in the Gerwig adaptation. We haven’t had those plot details confirmed yet.
As we previously revealed, Charli XCX is in talks for the role of the white witch and Daniel Craig is also being courted for the project. Nexus Point News reports that Craig is being eyed for the role of Digory’s uncle.
In 2018, Netflix said it would develop new series and film projects based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of Narnia series and brought Gerwig on board in 2020 to adapt and direct the first movie. It remains in early stages, and details are scant. As previously reported, the movie is getting an exclusive two-week Imax global run for Thanksgiving 2026 in advance of the pic’s drop on the streamer.
The project is Gerwig’s follow-up to delivering Warner Bros its highest-grossing movie ever, Barbie ($1.44 billion).
Three-time Oscar winner Streep is coming off hit series Only Murders In The Building but hasn’t starred in a movie since 2021’s Don’t Look Up. We reported last fall of her attachment to a series version of hit novel The Corrections and there was reporting in 2024 that she would return to make The Devil Wears Prada sequel this year.
Netflix and Streep’s reps declined to comment.