About 2 weeks ago, the cameras stopped rolling. Principal photography has officially wrapped on Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. For months, cast and crew have been building a world from lamppost sparks and whispered incantations, shaping forests, ruins, and beginnings. The physical production phase is now complete. The sets are quiet. The costumes are hung. The final slate has clapped. But this is not the end. It is the turning of a page. This is where the story comes together.
It is often said that a film is made three times: first when it’s written, second when it’s shot, and third when it’s edited. They are now on the third part of that journey.
Welcome to Post-Production
Post-production is where the film comes together. What was captured on set is refined, reshaped, and sometimes reimagined.
Special Effects
The Magician’s Nephew is not a small story. It includes the Wood Between the Worlds, Charn beneath a dying sun, and the birth of Narnia itself. Visual effects artists now step in to weave those impossible places and moments into the footage already shot.
Looping (ADR)
Actors often return to re-record dialogue. Wind, fabric, or equipment can interfere with audio, and sometimes a line needs greater clarity or emotional precision. This process ensures every word lands the way it should.
Editing
Editors assemble the film scene by scene, shaping pacing, tension, and emotional rhythm. This is where performances are refined, and the story truly finds its heartbeat.
Sound Design
The subtle creak of a dying world. The stillness of the Wood Between the Worlds. The first roar that echoes across creation. Sound design transforms images into lived experience.
Color Correction
Color grading defines tone. Charn may burn in muted crimson. Narnia’s birth may glow in luminous gold. These choices quietly guide how we feel long before we consciously notice.
Music and Scoring
The score will carry enormous weight. This story is both intimate and cosmic. The music must hold grief, grandeur, and hope in the same breath. And this is typically one of my favorite parts of a film, when it comes with beautiful music. This time we are in for something different, and we don’t really know what it is yet, though we have been given hints. We’ll have to see if they hint at it in any previews in the months to come.
Reshoots
Reshoots are normal. As editors refine the story, they sometimes discover a need for an additional reaction shot, a clarifying line, or a connective moment. This is not a red flag, like some would have you believe. It is refinement.
Test Screenings
Early audiences may view rough cuts to provide feedback on pacing, clarity, and emotional impact. Their responses help polish the final version.
Marketing Awakens
While post-production continues behind the scenes, the marketing phase will begin to stir.
We can expect official cast announcements, behind-the-scenes glimpses, teasers, trailers, character posters, commercial spots, interviews, and press tours. That first teaser will likely reveal more about tone than plot. Is this dark and mythic? Warm and childlike? Grand and operatic? Those early images will set the stage for months of conversation.
How I Approach a Film Like This
It could be brilliant. It could be a trainwreck. I do not decide until the credits roll. I give adaptations the benefit of the doubt every time. And when I evaluate them, I do so from two perspectives.
As a Film in a Vacuum
If there were no book. If I had never read Lewis. If I were simply an audience member walking into a fantasy film for the first time, would it move me? Would it stand on its own? This is actually where I begin. My first exposure to Narnia was the animated version, not the book. So I know it is possible to encounter these stories first through film, and then dive into the books. Starting here can be difficult, but I also want to look at it from the perspective of a general audience member who doesn’t have a deep knowledge of the books. That way, I can speak to them in a way that might bring them to read the books. This helps because I never want to turn someone off from ever reading the books if they loved the film. But I still go on from here, for those who want this other perspective.
As an Adaptation
I look at it through the window of the book. This is the harder test. Very few films measure up to their literary origins. Some I consider equals, such as The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride, which captured the spirit of their source material remarkably well. Some I consider stronger than their books, like Big Fish or The NeverEnding Story. Most adaptations fall somewhere in between.
A Season of Waiting
Where will The Magician’s Nephew land? That remains to be seen.
For now, we enter the long stretch of waiting. Somewhere in a studio, editors are shaping a story about a bell, a song, and the beginning of everything. And we wait to see what kind of world will emerge when the lights dim and the credits begin to roll.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew releases exclusively on IMAX on Thanksgiving 2026 for a two-week run, followed by Netflix on Christmas 2026.
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