Henry Cavill's departure from The Witcher gave the series a major challenge to overcome in season 4, and it almost had another shake-up to deal with. According to a new interview, a second star considered leaving the show right after him: Freya Allan. Allan portrays Princess Cirilla in the Netflix adaptation, and The Witcher's big recast apparently left her shaken and conflicted.
Speaking with NME, the actress admitted that “season 3 was a really difficult season for everyone,” not just Cavill. And on the heels of him leaving, she wasn't sure she wanted to remain for the final two outings. "I cried because I wanted to finish the show with the guy that played my adoptive father," Allan admitted.
According to the actress, she toyed with the possibility of leaving as well, spending a "solid amount of time" weighing her options. However, she decided to finish the story, which is a huge relief in hindsight. “Once I’d made that choice, I made the most of every moment," Allan said.
Although The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia recast has been a point of contention for fans, it would have been much harder to pull it off if another main cast member needed to be replaced at the same time. Allan choosing to stay helped the Netflix show avoid that unpleasant situation, which could have been the final nail in the coffin.
Freya Allan leaving would have given The Witcher an impossible challenge
It's a relief that Allan decided to see the rest of The Witcher through, as her departure would have left the Netflix show in an impossible bind. Recasting a lead is a difficult task on its own, especially when that lead is Cavill — a star whose passion for the franchise and performance makes him a shoo-in to play Geralt.
Fortunately, Liam Hemsworth does an impressive job of taking up the reins. However, trying to accomplish this with two lead actors might have been too much for the series to hope for. It would have been especially awkward to replace Ciri, as she's such a big focus of the fourth and fifth seasons. Hemsworth benefits from the narrative shifting its focus to her and Yennefer, but with Ciri's story taking center stage, Allan's absence would have been much more jarring.
The Witcher season 4 Is some of Freya Allan's best work as Ciri
Allan staying for The Witcher's final seasons also led to some of her best performances as Ciri — well, in The Witcher season 4, anyway. Separated from Geralt and Yennefer, Ciri is forced to survive on her own, pushing her character to darker places than ever before. Allan handles this shift well, and it would have been a shame if she'd never gotten to tackle this version of Ciri.
From the sound of it, we can expect more great moments from the actress in The Witcher's fifth and final season as well. Allan told NME that she's happy with how things ended, recalling, "That final season took everything out of me, but I feel so incredibly satisfied."
With no further upheavals to worry about — the final season of The Witcher has already wrapped filming — hopefully, viewers can bid farewell to the show on a high note too. It's been a rocky road, but the series is getting one thing that so many modern fantasy projects don't: a proper ending. Even with all its casting challenges, that's worth celebrating.