Report: Netflix’s The Witcher To Focus on Ciri and Yennefer Over Geralt

John F. Trent |

Nov 1, 2019

A new report indicates that Netflix’s The Witcher will focus more on Freya Allan’s Ciri and Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer rather than Henry Cavill’s Geralt.

The report comes from Redanian Intelligence’s coverage of The Witcher panel that took place at MCM London Comic Con between October 25 and 27.

The panel, which featured showrunner Lauren Hissrich, Freya Allan, and Anya Chalotra, saw the Witcher team present a number of clips from the show.

In between showing those clips, Hissrich discussed what it was like to adapt the show from the books and revealed she’s putting a greater focus on Ciri and Yennefer.

“It wasn’t easy. They’re 8 books, I’ve read all of them. I knew I wanted to start with the short stories. They explain what the witchers are, [etc]. But I wanted to introduce Ciri and Yennefer earlier. You get to meet Ciri [and really know her] before she interacts with other characters.”

Redanian Intelligence also reports:

“While the short stories are told from Geralt‘s perspective, the show will put the female characters Yennefer and Ciri at the forefront of the story from the very beginning.”

They explain:

“This is to capture them before they’re seen through someone else’s lens. Hissrich took inspiration from Sapkowski who told her about the hardship and enduring strength of Polish women during World War II. With many men falling during the fighting, Polish women assumed an important role.”

After this explanation from Hissrich about Yennefer and Ciri being the focus of the show, apparently fans were concerned about Henry Cavill’s role as Geralt.

Hissrich attempted to assuage those fears:

“He is on the screen a lot. It’s important to make sure that Ciri and Yen get their due. We need to understand them all individually, so we can understand them together.”

That answer doesn’t do a lot to assuage those fears at all. In fact, it actually increases the fears that the show will sideline Cavill’s Geralt in favor of telling a story about Ciri and Yennefer.

Hissirch has made troubling comments about The Witcher in the past. When discussing her casting decisions on Twitter, Hissirch claimed that America has a “checkered history of enslaving, abusing, and deriding people who aren’t white. When the scales have historically tipped so far in one direction, it’s natural to swing back in the other in order to find a middle ground.”

It makes sense that we do, because we have a long and checkered history of enslaving, abusing, and deriding people who aren’t white. When the scales have historically tipped so far in one direction, it’s natural to swing back in the other in order to find a middle ground.

— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) July 26, 2019

She’s also misled fans of the books. Before casting of the show began she stated, “I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures.”

The answer is: I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures, which means I WILL include minorities. The trap people fall into is equating “ minority” with skin color. (Note: people saw the writers’ room picture I tweeted and railed “Why so diverse?! Why no Europeans?!”

— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) May 11, 2018