Today he is a politician instead of an actor

Greta Gerwig is reissuing the Chronicles of Narnia series for Netflix and creating two fantasy parts for the streamer. It follows in the footsteps of several adaptations of the famous novel series by CS Lewis, whose best-known representatives are probably the film trilogy of the 2000s. It began in 2005 with The King of Narnia and ended in 2010 with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The child actors in the Narnia films achieved worldwide fame overnight thanks to the fantasy series. Unlike the actors in the Harry Potter series, this fame was only short-lived. Today almost no one can remember the names William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes.

In the case of the latter, however, this is particularly unsurprising – because After the Narnia films, Keynes pursued a completely different career.

Narnia star Skandar Keynes turned away from acting after the fantasy series

Before Skandar Keynes took on the role of… Edmund Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia – The King of Narnia, the Lebanese-British actor tried to work his way up as a child actor. His first film role in a TV production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth was followed by the part of eight-year-old Enzo Ferrari in a TV biopic about the legendary racing car manufacturer.

Edmund was Keynes’s first major film role, appearing in three fantasy films over the course of five years. As the black sheep of the Pevensie siblingswho initially betrays them to the White Witch in exchange for Turkish honey, Edmund evolved from the remorseful villain in The King of Narnia, to Prince Caspian of Narnia and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader an honorable hero and fan favorite.

Not only the youth of young Millennials and older Gen Z-ers were shaped by Keynes’s involvement in the $1.5 billion Narnia series, but of course his own too. The extensive filming in New Zealand kept the actor away from his home for months and denied the model student years of schooling.

However, in an interview published on his homepage in 2008, Keynes explained that what he loved about acting was traveling. He also had big dream roles in mind for himself: “I would love to play James Bond someday.” In the same interview, he explained that his planned studies would not necessarily stop him from continuing to act if suitable roles came up.

After The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third Narnia film, was released in cinemas worldwide in 2010, Keynes turned to his planned studies and at the same time explored his Lebanese and Persian roots. At Pembroke College, Cambridge He studied Arabic, Persian and Middle Eastern historywhich he is said to have completed in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree and top grades.

In the same year he made a brief visit to the entertainment industry and appeared as a voice actor in the audio production Freedom’s Cause, for which he was even nominated for a Voice Art Award. A year later, Keynes completely reoriented himself before he published his homepage in 2016 officially said goodbye to acting announced.

Based on the fantasy series Narnia: Skandar Keynes is now a politician

In 2015, Keynes is said to have done an internship with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, where, among other things, he investigated the situation of refugees in Jordan. After his internship, Keynes took up a position in the House of Commons in the British Parliament, where he worked as an advisor to MP Crispin Blunt until 2018.

Since then, little is known of Keynes’ life. But he should still be considered political advisor in the British government work. Every few months he pops up on X (formerly Twitter) to share political posts or memes like those seen below. Otherwise, he largely stays out of public life.

He never revealed to the public why Keynes turned away completely from acting and his James Bond dream. However, his career can speak for itself. Did his Narnia role as King Edmund the Just prepare him for his later political career? That can only be assumed.

All three Narnia films stream as a subscription on Disney+.