A month after announcing that Henry Cavill would portray Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher TV series, Netflix has revealed the rest of the cast in its adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy series. Via tweet and press release, the streaming service shared headshots and descriptors for the characters, including the pivotal roles of “enigmatic sorceress” Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri, Princess of Cintra (Freya Allan).
Netflix describes the characters in the press release:
The pivotal role of Ciri, Princess of Cintra, will be played by Freya Allan (The War of the Worlds, Into The Badlands). Other characters from the court at Cintra include Queen Calanthe (Jodhi May, Game of Thrones, Genius), and her husband, the knight Eist (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Fortitude), along with the druid Mousesack (Adam Levy, Knightfall, Snatch).
The sorceress Yennefer will be played by Anya Chalotra (The ABC Murders, Wanderlust). Leading the magical academy at Aretuza is Tissaia (MyAnna Buring, Ripper Street, Kill List), and Yennefer is joined by other novice sorcerers Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni, Black Earth Rising), Sabrina (Therica Wilson-Read, Profile). Also joining the cast is Millie Brady (The Last Kingdom, Teen Spirit) as the outcast Princess Renfri.
Left to right in the above grid, that’s Cavill, Chalotra, Allan, May, Ndiweni, Wilson-Read, Brady, Levy, Haraldsson, and Buring.
“Casting The Witcher has been one of the biggest projects of my career, and undoubtedly the most exciting,” said creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Daredevil, The Defenders, Umbrella Academy). “I can’t wait for these wonderful actors to bring such iconic and loved characters to life on screen, and to share these special stories with viewers all over the world.” In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she spoke to how prominent Yennefer and Ciri’s roles would be alongside Geralt’s story:
Yeah, what’s interesting is the first couple books are told from Geralt’s perspective and when I was reading them I saw that there are all these other characters who are very strong and powerful; not just the women, by the way. They can be pulled to the forefront so it doesn’t always feel like just Geralt’s journey, because the journey of one man is never going to be very interesting. It’s only going to be as interesting as the people he interacts with. That’s why these characters are rising in prominence in the series.
When asked if it muddies the waters to draw from multiple sources (i.e., the books and the video games), she responded:
It does muddy the water a little bit for me. I’m a huge fan of the games. That being said, what I really tried to steer away from is that the video games right now are the sole visual representation of these stories and we needed to create our own visual representation. As I’ve been developing the series I’ve actually pulled back from playing the video games because I wanted to make sure the show we were creating was its own unique thing.
The official logline, via Netflix:
Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
The Witcher is in pre-production, with no premiere date yet announced.
