The TV adaptation of The Witcher has taken the world by storm since its Netflix debut last month, and audiences have taken note of the strong performances from the high fantasy series' leads. Newcomer Freya Allan shared some info on the unique details that she brought to her performance as Princess Cirilla, a.k.a. Ciri.
"All the screaming was mine," Allan told Comic Book. "Like, I remember on set, the very first time I did the scream, we did a rehearsal, and the director came over and said 'Oh, we should have done a take.' I don't know what it is, but lots of the roles I've gotten into, I've had to do these huge screams, and so I'm kind of a pro in that."
"Everyone always says that I do a really kind of, a quite piercing one," Allan continued. "My throat was very, very sore by the end of it. But I mean, it was kind of fun as well."
Dubbed the "Lion Cub of Cintra" for her royal lineage, Ciri's arc in the first season of The Witcher sees her displaced from her home and family after the fall of the Cintran kingdom. One of the show's three prominent story arcs follows the princess as she searches for the one person bound to her by fate, a gruff monster hunter with mysterious powers called Geralt of Rivia.
Fans of CD Projekt Red's Witcher video games, which share the same source material in Andrzej Sapkowski's original book series, will notice that the version of Ciri present in the show is much different from the older, more experienced take on the character seen in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, but the series lays a strong foundation for the character to grow into a similar role, no small part of which is the distinct energy that Allan brings to her Ciri.
Allan's previous work includes an appearance on AMC's Into the Badlands, as well as in an English miniseries based on the classic novel The War of the Worlds earlier in 2019. Other upcoming projects for Allan include the thriller film Gunpowder Milkshake, HBO's miniseries The Third Day, and the second season of The Witcher, which was already greenlit in November before the series premiered.
Early critical reception to Netflix's version of The Witcher has been mixed, but Netflix has already pointed to the show as one of its biggest releases of 2019, with the series reaching similar levels of popularity as Disney+'s The Mandalorian and Netflix's own longtime hit Stranger Things. The show's strong performance means the chances of seeing Allan in other big roles to come are strong, with the show's version of Ciri already being compared to Game of Thrones's Arya Stark by viewers.
All eight episodes of The Witcher's first season are streaming now on Netflix.
Source: Comic Book