The new movie's White Witch actress is the closest Greta Gerwig could get to fulfilling a popular fancast. After Lady Bird, Little Women, and the blockbuster Barbie movie, Greta Gerwig is heading to Narnia for her next project. The film will reportedly adapt the sixth novel in C.S. Lewis' series, The Magician's Nephew, with a cast that includes Meryl Streep as Aslan, Daniel Craig as Digory's uncle Andrew, and Carey Mulligan as Digory's mother Mabel.

Though it was initially reported that Charli XCX was being eyed for the role, , reuniting the actress and director after Barbie. Previously played by Tilda Swinton in Disney's film adaptations, the White Witch is the primary antagonist in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. She is also featured in The Magician's Nephew, which reveals her origins as she is unleashed into London during the turn of the 20th century.

Margot Robbie as the White Witch was a popular fancast for Greta Gerwig's Narnia movie due to their successful collaboration on Barbie. Robbie was perfectly cast by Gerwig in the role of the titular doll, and the Barbie movie ended up becoming a billion-dollar box office success, with Robbie being narrowly snubbed for an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Afterward, , which felt like a natural next step in their creative partnership.

With Swinton leaving behind an iconic portrayal of the White Witch, Gerwig needed a star with an undeniable screen presence to reinvent the villain. , especially under Gerwig's direction, where she has proven to thrive. Although Robbie rarely plays villains, her chaotic turn as Harley Quinn showed she can dive into morally ambiguous roles with flair. Fans believed she would have brought the perfect blend of elegance and edge to the White Witch.

Emma Mackey's casting as the White Witch feels like a natural progression of the Margot Robbie fancasts. , and she was seemingly cast as Physicist Barbie in the movie because of that fact, which sparked more online jokes and side-by-side memes during Barbie's press tour. So even though the Narnia movie couldn't get Robbie, it got the next best thing: a lookalike, who also has a history with Gerwig.

While Robbie may have been the dream casting for the White Witch, . Not only does she share an eerie resemblance to Robbie, but she is also a proficient actress, as proven by her breakout role in Sex Education. Gerwig was already familiar with Mackey's talents from Barbie, and their choice to reunite in the Narnia movie suggests it will be another successful collaboration.

What makes Mackey a more exciting casting choice than Robbie is the. Robbie's take on the White Witch would likely have been remarkable, but also relatively predictable given her past roles and star persona. Mackey, on the other hand, is still in the process of defining her screen identity. This uncertainty should allow her White Witch to feel fresh and unpredictable.

Gerwig's choice to go with someone less expected shows a desire to reframe the role entirely, which is far more exciting. In many ways, casting Mackey is the smarter, more subversive move. Robbie may have brought star power, but to reshape the White Witch without audience expectations weighing too heavily.

It's a casting decision that reflects Gerwig's tendency to zig when others zag, much like reimagining Barbie as a feminist odyssey. By leaning into Mackey's resemblance to Robbie while also allowing her to forge her own path, Gerwig has turned a joke into a stroke of casting brilliance.