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Sorry, everyone who wanted to see Charli XCX as C.S. Lewis’s White Witch — despite the pop icon being rumored to be attached to the role in Greta Gerwig’s Netflix Narnia movie, it turns out that she’s not got the magic touch after all. Instead, it’ll be one of Gerwig’s old Barbie stars who’ll play the chilly Jadis.

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop that Emma Mackey will take the role of Jadis in the upcoming Narnia movie, beating out The Substance’s Margaret Qualley in the process, with Qualley and Mackey reportedly the final two in consideration for the role despite constant chatter that Charli XCX had already taken the role back in March.

Perhaps more interestingly, THR also reports that Gerwig’s movie will actually be an adaptation of 1955’s The Magician’s Nephew, the sixth of seven Narnia novels written by C.S. Lewis — although, because the book is technically a prequel to the rest of the series, it’s technically the first of the novels in terms of chronology. (A significant part of the book is dedicated to the creation of Narnia by Aslan, in fact.) If this is actually the case, it suggests that Gerwig and Netflix are approaching the series as a whole with a view to telling the entire story in order, rather than just focusing on the hits. (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, I’m looking at you.)

Now that we know that Mackey will play the evil Jadis and that the movie is likely to be based on The Magician’s Nephew, we have a new reason to look forward to the as-yet-still-untitled and unscheduled Narnia flick: it’s very likely that one of the cast members from Sex Education is going to try to kill a CGI lion voiced by Meryl Streep, who’s in talks to play Aslan. This, my friends, is cinema.

Keep your eyes on Popverse for more on Narnia as the project nears production and release.

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