Wonderful to have something concrete to talk about now! I’m glad as well because out of the two of them that were just rumored I was leaning more towards Emma. Looking forward to seeing what she does with it!

We never found out the third actress who was in the running for Jadis, I wonder if somewhere down the road we will find out like we did with the Prince Caspian Andrew Garfield thing. But, I'll tell you what I am glad we got Ben Barnes over Andrew Garfield then, I am really glad we got Emma right now. I love her accent.

I haven't heard of her (not being a big movie fan), but she certainly looks like she'll have the right kind of commanding and formidable presence...

But they've repeated the rumour about Meryl Streep being "in talks" to play Aslan, and THAT's the thing I'd rather be hearing definite details on. When are we going to find out if it's true or just a furphy — and if it is true, what does it mean for how THE most important character in the entire series (some might say in the entire universe) is going to be portrayed???  

While I have absolutely no familiarity with her, I must say at the very least I am glad it is her and not a pop star. 

Just can't express how pleased I am with this casting. I've been aware of her since Sex Education, and was blown away by her performances in Emily, Death On The Nile and also a French film, Eiffel. Honestly, in my opinion, a phenomenal choice and I think one thing I hadn't thought about is how much of a different choice she is from someone like Tilda Swinton or even Barbara Kellerman. I think it'll help really solidify Emma's portrayal as her, and Gerwig's, own version of the character. Very excited to see what she does with the role!

I'm gonna attach some clips I've shared before, but this time to give some people insight to anyone who hasn't seen anything of her and wants to get an idea of her as an actress;

• Death On The Nile
• Emily
• Eiffel

Ah! But could this Emily Mackie really stand on the bonnet of a hansom cab & drive poor Strawberry, I wonder? (Actually, I'd be interested in how this particular scene would be put together. And which animal would be able to play that part? They had a demonstration of carriage driving a week or so ago, at the Royal Easter Show, at Olympic Park in Sydney. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Ah! But could this Emily Mackie really stand on the bonnet of a hansom cab & drive poor Strawberry, I wonder?

I imagine they'll use a stunt double.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Actually, I'd be interested in how this particular scene would be put together. And which animal would be able to play that part?

I should think that for that particular incident, they'll use a lot of CGI, both for the cab itself as it gets smashed, and especially for the terrified horse. It's by far the easiest way for them to do it without breaching animal welfare regulations. And thanks to CGI, as we've already seen with the previous Narnia movies — and the technology has come along even further in the 15-20 years since then — they can now create photo-realistic talking animals entirely digitally, without having to risk the safety and well-being of real animals at all. I'd say it's a safe bet that all the animals in this version of Narnia will be CG throughout, even Strawberry while he's still in London and not yet a Talking Horse. 

I can't say I've seen much of Emma Mackey - but I did watch a few of the scenes posted in the previous thread - the one about her being tested for the role.  From what I observed, she seems like a pretty good choice for the role, doesn't appear too young or too old either for the role IMO.  I'm glad to hear we've got an official casting announcement now!  And I'm also glad they didn't go with Charli XCX for the role - not that I've got anything against her, but I think for the role of Jadis you need a more experienced actress, rather than a celebrity singer with very little acting experience to her name.

I don't really know much about her currently. I have seen Barbie but can't recall her character in it. I was, however, leaning towards her more than the other girl as having the right kind of look. (Helped that her hair was down in the photo! 😆 ) This casting is fairly positive, at least. 🙂 

I definitely preferred her over Margaret Qualley or Charli XCX for the role, so I'm very encouraged by this news! It's also nice that Mackey's not (yet) an A-List star like many predicted. It gives me more opportunity to see her as Jadis rather than being distracted by a popular actress playing the role. 

This is exciting news — congratulations, Emma Mackey! I think it's really promising to have a BAFTA award-winning actor attached to the film already. I've seen Death on the Nile and Barbie, but I'll need to watch some more of her films and television credits to get a better idea of her performance style.

Her appearance definitely matches how I first imagined Jadis when reading the books. I'm currently reading The Magician's Nephew to my 6-year-old son. Last night, we read the chapter when Jadis first appears in Uncle Andrew's study. Lewis describes how much larger she is in comparison to Digory, Polly, and Uncle Andrew. I'm curious to see how the visual effects in the film will portray her size. Will she need to be recorded separately and placed into the scenes? How will they portray her scale in relation to the people and the room around her? Should be interesting to see!

@Courtenay  I should think so, about the CGI. The way Jadis treats Strawberry in Magician's Nephew, was bad enough, the poor animal. Quite enough to sool the RSPCA onto the film set.  Never mind what Jadis does to Uncle Andrew. That is the best part of MN, Uncle Andrew's incarceration in Narnia. I can't wait to see who plays him. 

I'm happy that the actress to play Jadis has been chosen. Will they show how pale she becomes after eating the apple, I wonder? On the way to becoming the White Witch? 

For anyone interested, they released a trailer the other day for a new film starring Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw (who’d be a great Letitia Ketterley in my opinion) but thought I’d share it in case anyone was interested in possibly seeing the film or just wanted to watch the trailer to gather some more thoughts on Emma’s capabilities.

https://youtu.be/_tGonuEcOq4