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It’s been a quiet few weeks for Netflix’s Narnia movie, which is currently in production in the United Kingdom. But we’ve got a new piece of information that reveals the Netflix adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew will expand on the original book, with Polly’s family set to feature on screen.
To bring you up to speed, filming on Netflix’s Narnia movie adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew began in mid-August 2025. From those early set pictures, we reported that David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell had been cast as the two main leads. The latter of the two will play Polly Plummer, and we’ve now learned that we’ll get to meet her family.
What’s on Netflix has learned that young performer Ava Jager has been cast in the role of Violet, one of at least three siblings (she’s listed as Polly’s sister 3) for Polly, which is going by the working title of Ordinary Time. The 17-year-old actress is new to the scene, having appeared in minor roles in Masters of the Air for Apple TV+ and in a Doctor Who Time Fracture commercial.
What does this mean for the story, and were Polly’s sisters in the original books? For this, we had to consult the experts at NarniaWeb, specifically Brian Corbin (who also goes by Glumpuddle).
Carnell told us that there isn’t an explicit mention of Polly having sisters in The Magician’s Nephew, but that the book does refer to her family in chapter 7 in the following (bold and italic the relevant phrases):
“[Polly] had got home late for her dinner, with her shoes and stockings very wet. And when they asked her where she had been and what on earth she had been doing, she said she had been out with Digory Kirke. Under further questioning she said she had got her feet wet in a pool of water, and that the pool was in a wood. Asked where the wood was, she said she didn’t know. Asked if it was in one of the parks, she said truthfully enough that she supposed it might be a sort of park. From all of this Polly’s mother got the idea that Polly had gone off, without telling anyone, to some part of London she didn’t know, and gone into a strange park and amused herself jumping into puddles. As a result she was told that she had been very naughty indeed and that she wouldn’t be allowed to play with “that Kirke boy” any more if anything of the sort ever happened again. Then she was given dinner with all the nice parts left out and sent to bed for two solid hours. It was a thing that happened to one quite often in those days.”
Our understanding is that these sister roles will be a small part in the grand scheme of the movie, but it does point to the fact that Greta Gerwig is expanding on the source material. According to the Instagram account of Jager’s agency, her last week of filming was in late September. Of course, the movie itself will remain in production through to at least the end of the year.
Netflix declined to comment.
Elsewhere, things have been much quieter on the Narnia news front since filming got underway. Mark Ronson was confirmed by Today to be working on the music for the movie, Andor actress Denise Gough was confirmed for a role, and just recently, NarniaWeb reported that Neal Scanlan will be working on the creatures for the movie, having previously worked on Star Wars and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Also, in somewhat related news, last week the BBC debuted first-look images of its new Lord of the Flies adaptation, which will feature Narnia’s lead, David McKenna, as Piggy. It’s unclear where this will stream internationally, with Sony Pictures Television holding the rights. Given the Netflix connection to the lead and its lead writer, Jack Thorne (Adolescence and Enola Holmes), we wouldn’t be at all surprised if it lands there.
Piggy (David McKenna) (Images: BBC/Eleven)
For everything we know about Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, keep an eye on our full preview for the upcoming movie, and we’ve got lots more coverage to come!
Are you excited to see Polly’s sisters on the big screen? Let us know in the comments.
