Saoirse Ronan Addresses ‘Narnia’ Rumors: Greta Gerwig “Hasn’t Asked Me Yet”

Natalie Oganesyan
·2-min read

Four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan is pretty sure she’ll be in Greta Gerwig’s Netflix reimagining of The Chronicles of Narnia — sort of, kind of, maybe.

During a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Outrun star discussed everything from her latest indie project, now out in theaters, to her losing streak at the Academy Awards — and even revealed that she once auditioned for the beloved role of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter franchise.

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When asked by the host if there was any truth to the rumors that she’d be appearing in the upcoming Narnia films, she replied: “I mean, there isn’t, like, no truth to it. She hasn’t asked me yet. She’s writing it.”

She continued, joking, “But we have the kind of relationship where I just sort of go to her and I say, ‘So I’ll be in this, just so you know.’ And she takes some time to think about it and then she goes, ‘OK.’ But she honestly hasn’t asked me about Narnia — I think she’s so wrapped up in writing it right now.”

Last year, the Ladybird and Little Women helmer — both of which starred Ronan as the lead — said she was “properly scared” to tackle the beloved children’s classic, based on the C.S. Lewis book series and which spawned a trilogy adaptation beginning in the mid-2000s. “I think when I’m scared, it’s always a good sign. Maybe when I stop being scared, it’ll be like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t do that one.’ But yeah, no. I’m terrified of it. It’s extraordinary and it’s exciting.”

Later on during Ronan’s guest appearance, the Hanna actress recalled another collaboration with Gerwig that was supposed to take place but never came to fruition — a role as Weird Barbie alongside Kate McKinnon in the Margot Robbie vehicle Barbie.

“It was gonna be me and Kate being weird for 20 minutes,” she said, explaining that she couldn’t be in the film because of scheduling conflicts with The Outrun.

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“I am still devastated that I didn’t get to do that. And Timothée [Chalamet, another frequent Gerwig muse] didn’t get to be in it. We were both asked, I think, but we were busy elsewhere,” she added, joking that he would have likely played a Weird Ken.

With The Outrun, Ronan is already drumming up Oscar buzz. The film, based on the memoir of the same name from Amy Liptrot, follows a woman’s journey toward sobriety from alcohol addiction, as she moves from London to the remote Scottish cloister of Orkney Islands.

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