Netflix's The Witcher finds its female leads

The Hollywood Reporter

Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra will star opposite Henry Cavill as Ciri and Yennefer, respectively, on the adaptation of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy novels. Allan's casting as Ciri comes one month after a leaked casting notice claimed that producers were seeking a minority actress for the role, prompting showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich to quit Twitter. Hissrich says Allan was cast after casting directors saw more than 200 young women from all over Europe. She says of the backlash: "It boils down to a couple things. One, this property has such a passionate fan base. I think any leak at all was going to attract this type of attention, and with any attention comes backlash to that attention. I do think that whatever information is trickling out there, there will be people responding positively to it and people responding negatively to it. I think that’s just part of making a television show, and especially a show this big. In terms of why people responded so strongly, I think the fans really have pictures of these characters in their minds and I don’t blame them for that. I get it. When I read my favorite books I certainly imagine characters a certain way. There’s obviously a couple lines of description of Ciri in the books and people become very enamored with their own vision of it."