When people talk about the upcoming season of The Witcher on Netflix, mostly it's about how Liam Hemsworth is going to replace Henry Cavill as lead character Geralt of Rivia. And that is indeed interesting, but The Witcher is bigger than just Geralt. Geralt's surrogate daughter Ciri (Freya Allan) has been a main character since the beginning and will only continue to grow in importance as the show heads into its final stretch. At the end of season 3, she was warped who-knows-how-far away from Geralt and Yennefer, left to fend for herself in a strange new place with some strange new friends: a group of teenaged thieves known as the Rats.
Ciri met the Rats at the end of season 3, but we won't really get to know them until season 4. Despite their Robin Hood-like reputation, by and large they're not a pleasant bunch, and get up to some nasty things in Andrzej Sapkowski's books The Time of Contempt and Baptism of Fire. In one very disturbing scene from The Time of Contempt, a member of the Rats named Kayleigh (Fabian McCallum) tries to sexually assault Ciri, only to be stopped by another member, Mistle (Christelle Elwin). And then Mistle goes on to finish the job.
It's a really creepy part from the book I don't know if we'll see in full on the show, but I thought of it when reading Freya Allan's interview with Elle. “ has her first experience with romance, if you can even call it that, because it’s not a good relationship," Allan said. "She goes into a very dark part of herself that I think is going to be terrifying to look at.”
Allan described Ciri's arc in the upcoming season as “the biggest shift we’ve seen. It’s so unbelievably different from anything that I’ve ever played with her.“ The Witcher is going to take the story in some new directions in the final two seasons, and it may not always be pleasant watching.
Nimue cast in The Witcher season 4
Speaking of new directions, the next season will see several new characters introduced, including a vampire played by The Matrix veteran Laurence Fishburne. We'll also meet Nimue, a young girl who will prove important to this final run. According to Redanian Intelligence, who are very well-informed on all things The Witcher, she'll be played by Eve Ridley, who you may recognize as the little girl who died over and over again in the virtual reality game in 3 Body Problem.
Eve Ridley (3 Body Problem) has been cast as Nimue in The Witcher Season 4 pic.twitter.com/e5OvxeKSBo
— Redanian Intelligence (@RedanianIntel) May 16, 2024
As it happens, this Nimue is kinda-sorta the same Nimue from Arthurian legend; The Witcher gets a little multiverse-happy in its final stretch, but we'll let you find out the details for yourself. Season 4 is due out sometime in 2025 and season 5 is expected to end the series.
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