Following the debut of the trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, the director has explained how she secured Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” for the promotional clip. The band has notoriously turned down all previous requests to feature the 1971 track on screen.
A shared love for C.S. Lewis
Speaking at a Q&A with Stephen Colbert, Gerwig described her discussions with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
“I showed them and I talked to them, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and I was so moved that they allowed me to use the song,” Gerwig said. “They did it because they saw the heart of the story in the film and they too love C.S. Lewis, and they have a reverence for his work.”
The thematic fit
Gerwig stated that the song mirrored the narrative of the movie, describing it as an epic spiritual journey about enlightenment, false idols, and taking the wrong roads.
“It really is a spiritual quest and a spiritual journey, so to me, this was the song that made sense to introduce this into the world,” she said.
Previous unsuccessful attempts to license the track include a 1995 episode of The Simpsons, the 2000 film Almost Famous, and the Stranger Things finale.
Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is scheduled to premiere on February 12, 2027, in Imax, ahead of its Netflix release on April 2.