Carmel Laniado joins the cast of The Witcher for season 2

The Witcher has been a smashing success for Netflix. The show follows professional monster hunter Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) as he wanders the fantastical Continent slaying beasts and meeting all sorts of interesting characters. Netflix is currently hard at work on a second season, which will adapt the novel Blood of Elves by author Andrzej Sapkowski. But just as season 1 played around with the source material, season 2 won’t adapt the books word for word. In fact, Deadline is reporting that a new character unique to the show is coming.

British actress Carmel Laniado — who recently played Lady Rose alongside Robert Downey Jr. in Dolittle — will be in at least three episodes of The Witcher season 2. She’ll play a character named Violet, “a young girl whose playful and whimsical demeanor is a front for a smarter and more sadistic character.”

Well, it certainly sounds like a Witcher character. Is this the face of evil?

WESTWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 11: Carmel Laniado attends the premiere of Universal Pictures’ “Dolittle” at Regency Village Theatre on January 11, 2020 in Westwood, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

This kind of reminds me of Dara, an elven character played by Wilson Radjou-Pujalte in season 1. Dara doesn’t exist in the books, but was created for the show so Ciri would have someone to talk to while on the run after the fall of Cintra. Clearly, the team isn’t afraid to put their own stamp on the material.

In fact, we’ve heard a lot about The Witcher staffing up lately. For example, it looks like spymaster Sigismund Dijkstra — a character from the books — will appear in season 2, although we’re not yet sure who will play him. And Game of Thrones alum Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane) may be in the show as well. We don’t know who he’d play, but I think we can all agree that he fits into pretty much any high fantasy setting.

Credit: HBO

Meanwhile, showrunner Lauren Hissrich has teased a few changes coming in season 2, including tweaking the unpopular look of the Nilfgaardian armor, and nixing the multitude of timelines that confused some fans. Season 2 will also have at least three new directors, including Stephen Surjik (Lost in Space, The Umbrella Academy, See), Edward Bazalgette (The Last Kingdom, Doctor Who, Poldark), and Sarah O’Gorman (The Last Kingdom, Cursed, Jamestown).

Hissrich confirmed that production for the second season should last about 125 days. “So we go for about five and a half months, depending, give or take,” she said. “Season one was much longer. It took much longer for us to do, but we feel for season two that we’ve got things a little more under control.” According to Deadline, filming should begin this month on location in the U.K., Scotland and Eastern Europe.

In the meantime, an animated Witcher prequel movie is coming to Netflix. It’s called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and will tell the tale of Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir.

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