Rumor: Netflix’s Witcher Television Series Will Race-Swap Ciri

By 
·September 9, 2018

Netflix’s Witcher television series which just recently announced that Henry Cavill would take on the main role of Geralt is facing hot water after a casting announcement on the National Youth Theatre website.

The casting announcement specifically noted it was for The Witcher on Netflix and that it was for the part of Ciri a.k.a. Cirilla, The Lion Cub of Cintra.

The casting announcement reads:

“Looking for a 16 or 15 year old BAME girl who can play down to 13/14.  Must not be older than 18 years old.
Resilient, Relentless, Brazen, Growing.”

It continues:

“CIRI can often be found rough-housing with the Palace hands instead of sitting in finery at the knee of the QUEEN CALANTHE, her grandmother. That is, until Cintra is massacred by the Nilfgaardians and CIRI is orphaned, left to traverse THE CONTINENT, alone. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s a direct descendent of LARA DORREN, an Elven Mage – which is why everyone in our series is after her. We follow CIRI as she evades her captors, and in the meantime, discovers her magical talents, her dark side, and the role she is to play in the coming apocalypse. We are looking for an extraordinary young talent to lead this series. She should be brave hearted and MUST have something truly special about her.”

Fans specifically took issue with the fact that the show is apparently looking for a BAME girl. BAME stands for black, Asian, and minority ethnic. Minority ethnic specifically refers to members of non-white communities in the United Kingdom.

In the books Ciri is described as very pale and fair skinned. She also has ashen grey hair and green emerald eyes.

Showrunner Lauren S. Hissirch addressed the rumored casting on Twitter.

And fans of both the Witcher novels as well as the video games expressed their disappointment in the alleged race swapping of Ciri.

The Witcher show has already faced a number of controversies. The writing staff posted a photo of them making a clear stand on the United States’ immigration policy under President Donald J. Trump.

They specifically held up signs reading “Seeking asylum is not illegal.” and “Keep families together.”

Given Hissirch specifically made the writer’s room of The Witcher political, fans were worried Hissrich and the writers would try to push their own political agenda onto the show.

Hissirch responded to those criticisms in a series of Tweets stating, “The show IS political…but they’re not MY politics, or the writers’ Why? because we’re professionals who have zero desire to use a tv show to justify our own collective liberal opinions because THAT’s F****** INSANE.”

Netflix’s Witcher is already off to a rocky start and they haven’t even begun filming yet.

Will you watch the show if they race swap Ciri?

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