A new mod for The Witcher 3 surfaced online following the controversy that surrounded the rumored casting of the character of Ciri for the upcoming Netflix adaptation. The mod gives players the ability to change Ciri’s skin color, which may have been inspired by the backlash aimed the TV adaptation's supposed casting choice.

This new mod for The Witcher 3 is merely a retexture of Ciri’s character design, which gives her a different skin color. This serves as the first-ever mod to drastically change Ciri’s appearance as previous ones only introduced minor changes to fine-tune the character's appearance making her more accurate to the descriptions found in the novel series.

A few days ago, a rumor circulated that Netflix is looking to cast a woman of color for the role of Ciri. A listing that was posted on the National Youth Theatre suggested that Netflix is looking for a BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) actress to portray Ciri. Since then, people began voicing out strong opinions against the alleged casting decision, saying that Netflix would not be faithful to the novel series, which is also the source material for CD Projekt Red’s video game franchise.

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The controversy surrounding Ciri’s casting prompted showrunner Lauren Hissrich to go on hiatus from social media. Hissrich mentioned via Twitter that her decision to temporarily disconnect online has more to do with getting work done. However, the timing suggests that the Ciri backlash played a vital role in her decision. In her tweet, Hissrich revealed that “The love here is amazing, and the hate is enlightening, like a real-life Trial of the Grasses, except I HAVE to read less and write more—or we won’t have a damn finale.”

Netflix’s The Witcher is currently in pre-production and a few details about the show has been revealed such as the length, the filming location, and a possible release date. The first season of the series will contain eight episodes, it will be filmed in Eastern Europe, and it will probably release sometime in 2020. The upcoming show also revealed that Henry Cavill will be portraying the role of Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s adaptation of the novel series.

The Witcher 3 is now available for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while the Netflix adaptation is currently in pre-production.

Source: Nexus Mods