Witcher TV Series Casts Ciri And Yennifer Roles

Netflix's Witcher series is starting to come into focus as the preliminary details continue to be locked down. The latest news from the show is that actors have been cast to portray Ciri and Yennifer, two characters with important roles in the upcoming show's storyline.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the series' showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed that Freya Allan (Into the Badlands) will play Ciri, while Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust) will take on the role of Yennifer. The two join a cast headed up by Henry Cavill (Mission Impossible: Fallout), who plays the witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia.

The character of Ciri is the Princess of Cintra, and she will play a key role in the plot of the show. Yennifer is a sorceress who acts as a mother figure to Ciri and is the main love interest for Geralt.

Word of Ciri's casting has been a point of contention for Witcher fans. When a rumor began swirling that the show was seeking a woman of color to portray Ciri, the backlash on social media was so furious that Hissrich, the showrunner, ended up taking a break from Twitter.

She tweeted, "It's time for a Twitter hiatus. The love here is amazing, and the hate is enlightening, like a real-life Trial of the Grasses, except I HAVE to read less and write more -- or we won't have a damn finale. Be back soon with more insight and more Roach. Be nice to each other, okay?"

In the THR interview, Hissrich had this to say about the incident: "Truthfully, the controversy about Ciri, my own politics or the fact that I'm a woman, to me, just interacting with the fans has helped an enormous amount, because they see I'm on their side."

The Witcher will run for eight episodes and is based on the fantasy novels written by Andrzej Sapkowski, which also serve as the basis for the popular video games of the same name. While the show was announced back in May, it's not expected to land on the streaming service until 2020.