Getting Led Zeppelin to sign off on using “Stairway to Heaven” for a movie is no small feat. Greta Gerwig, however, managed to make it happen for her upcoming Narnia adaptation.
The filmmaker revealed that she personally met with Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page to secure the legendary rock song for the first trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, which debuted Tuesday (Oct. 13).
“I was so moved that they allowed me to use this song,” Gerwig said during a conversation with Stephen Colbert at New York’s AMC Lincoln Square IMAX theater, held hours before the trailer’s online premiere.
According to Gerwig, the musicians connected with the heart of her film, in part because of their own love for the work of author C.S. Lewis, whose beloved fantasy series serves as the inspiration for the movie.
“They love C.S. Lewis,” she said.
The choice of “Stairway to Heaven” is more than just having a rock classic associated with the film. Gerwig described the song as an epic that explores themes of spiritual discovery, enlightenment and the possibility of losing one’s way — ideas that also run through The Magician’s Nephew.
Those themes come to life in the trailer’s climactic sequence, which features Meryl Streep voicing Aslan, the mighty lion at the center of the Narnia universe. As the Led Zeppelin classic builds, the cosmic creature takes shape in a spectacular burst of light, presenting a peek at the film’s psychedelic visuals that help bring the story to life.
Released on Led Zeppelin’s fourth studio album in 1971, “Stairway to Heaven” never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 during its original release because the band chose not to issue it as a U.S. single. Instead, the eight-minute rock epic became a radio staple and helped propel its parent album, Led Zeppelin IV, to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in December 1971.
The placement of the song gives the trailer a grandiose, magnetic feel that fits Gerwig’s vision for a story about the creation of an entire world. For a song that has remained a cornerstone of rock radio for more than five decades, its appearance gives a new generation of moviegoers a fresh introduction to both the classic head-banging song and charming fantasy world.
The film adapts Lewis’ 1955 novel The Magician’s Nephew, a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Instead of just starting with the first-published book in the seven-part series, Gerwig chose to explore the origins of Narnia itself.
The filmmaker has spoken about her childhood affection for the fantasy stories and how their sense of possibility stayed with her into adulthood. When she learned Netflix had acquired the rights to the franchise, she pitched the project to the streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos, emphasizing its sweeping themes of good, evil, life and death. She began writing her first draft in 2021.
Gerwig is bringing a distinctly musical sensibility to the fantasy world, too. Along with the trailer including Led Zeppelin, a pre-screening playlist showcased that there are rock and psychedelic influences that shaped the adaptation: David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Todd Rundgren were among the musicians in the playlist.
The movie stars Daniel Craig, Carey Mulligan, Ciarán Hinds and Emma Mackey, who plays the formidable witch Jadis. David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell portray Digory and Polly, the young friends whose journey leads them into the extraordinary world of Narnia.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will open in theaters on Feb. 12, 2027, before arriving on Netflix on April 2.
Watch the full trailer below.
