The Witcher’s Ciri Will Show Strength Through Vulnerability

If you somehow weren’t already aware, Netflix’s The Witcher is an adaptation of an existing property, and with that comes a certain set of expectations. While the brunt of those expectation might fall on Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia, the rest of the cast has their own share of this burden. A recently published interview with Freya Allan, who portrays Ciri, sees Allan discuss how Ciri is known for being a badass, but that the writing was realistic on the show and allowed her to grow into that role rather than simply just… being a badass.

“What I loved and I could see straight away even from the audition process is that she’d been written realistically,” Allan told the British magazine SciFiNow, as transcribed by Witcher fansite Redanian Intelligence. “Nowadays we’re seeing a lot of very strong female characters who are really badass, and that’s brilliant. Obviously Ciri is renowned for being a badass character, but what I loved about the way that they’d portrayed it in the writing is that it’s not like she’s just born and she’s this amazing badass female character. You do see her be very vulnerable and cry and go through suffering and experience loss and at times be a little bit pathetic, because she’s had no experience of certain things.”

“And that jumped out at me, that they were portraying it realistically,” Allan added. “You need somewhere for the character to grow, and you need a reason for why she becomes more confident, more badass. You do see that she’s very strong through her vulnerability. The fact that she’s so vulnerable and she’s suffering and yet she continues on and that, to me, is bravery. She doesn’t have to be totally cold and totally stern and be violent and killing people. It’s a different kind of strength which I really like.”

What do you think of Allan’s comments here? Are you excited to see how the world of The Witcher is adapted into a television series? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Here’s how Netflix describes the upcoming series on its press site:

“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.”

Netflix’s The Witcher is scheduled to release its eight-episode first season on the streaming service on December 20th. It has already been renewed for a second season. Lauren S. Hissrich serves as showrunner. It stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Freya Allan as Ciri. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming adaptation right here.