Why Freya Allan wouldn’t get along well with Ciri if their paths cross
Allan (right) with Henry Cavill in “The Witcher” —PHOTOS COURTESY OF NETFLIX
The sophomore season of “The Witcher” expands on its first “in all the best ways,” as Rotten Tomatoes astutely notes. And one of the incontrovertible reasons is the presence of lovely British actress Freya Allan, who portrays runaway Princess Cirilla of Cintra.
While Henry Cavill, as monster slayer Geralt of Rivia, is winning raves for his “commanding and dignified” presence (Empire Magazine), Freya and Anya Chalotra (as part-elf sorceress Yennefer) also have their share of crowd-pleasing moments in the show amidst all the alluring heaps of myth-building in the “Continent.”
But it is Freya who really shares the spotlight with—and sometimes seizes it without much effort from—Henry. As the White Wolf’s “Child of Surprise,” Ciri must come to terms with her emerging powers, especially after Geralt takes her under his protective wing and trains her at the Witchers’ haven in Kaer Morhen.
After Inquirer Entertainment’s one-on-one chats with Henry (in August) and Anya (late last month), we were similarly thrilled to talk to Freya over Zoom about the show just before its Season 2 premiere on Netflix last Friday.
“Throughout Season 2, Ciri is basically battling with her own inner demon,” the 20-year-old ingenue mused. “She’s got this power that she possesses that she’s very afraid of. But she’s also determined to become a great fighter, that’s why she wants to become a Witcher like all her ‘older brothers’ at Kaer Morhen. That’s how the other Witchers feel to her.
“The biggest challenge was the fact that we didn’t shoot in order. We don’t really shoot perfectly in order—that’s very rare. But for Season 2, we literally were jumping from Episode 7 to Episode 3 to Episode 5—which was hard to keep track of!”
Freya Allan
Our Q&A with Freya:
Ciri works harder than any character this season. How much did you train for this?
I went into stunt training and started learning the basic techniques of sword work about a month before filming. I had to get fitter as well—and I absolutely loved it. I’ve been dying to do this because when I got the role, I read “Blood of Elves” (the first novel in Andrzej Sapkowski’s ‘Witcher’ saga) and thought, “I’m gonna get to do all this training!”
Then, the scripts came through, and I was like, ‘Oh, wait, I’m not doing all this yet?!’
And I was very disappointed. So, when I was told to start training, I was absolutely dying to do everything! And then filming came, but I didn’t have time to train much because I was filming every day … it was very intense.
I wanted more than what they were giving me because I’m literally the same as Ciri in that sense. But they were like, “Look, we need to leave some for the next season. We can’t turn you into an incredible fighter immediately.”
In Episode 3 of Season 2, Ciri is quoted as saying, “Less than perfect means death.” Do you share that passion and hard-driving mindset?
I’d definitely say something like that. I’ve also been a perfectionist in the past. I grew up in Oxford, which is known for its very academic environment. And the school I went to had that mentality—like, “I have to get this grade!” I mean, we shouldn’t have that need to be perfect all the time, because that will just make us unhappy. But, Ciri and I are very similar in that aspect.
When I met showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich in Manila two years ago, she said she didn’t worry about fan expectations but, in fact, drew inspiration from their enthusiasm. In your case, didn’t you worry about not living up to people’s expectations of you?
I don’t know whether this is a good or bad thing, but I don’t really think about it too much. In a way, it’s good because if you concern yourself too much with all the noise, you could easily end up getting lost, instead of just focusing on the true intention of your character.
When I do the job, I just focus on the task at hand. Actually, I’m good at blocking out other distractions because that would just drive me crazy.
You can’t please everybody, you know what I mean? One fan might want something and another might want something else. So, all you can do is to just stay in character and be in the moment.
The “Witcher” novels are well-loved, but not all popular books translate well onscreen. Since you’ve done two seasons already and are about to do a third, what do you think explains the show’s popularity?
I guess it’s the books and the games, right? I mean, when I went to do publicity in Poland for Season 1, I remember arriving there and, immediately, as we drove out of the airport, there were posters of our faces all over the place—they were absolutely mad about it! After all, that’s where the books originated. But even the video games based on “The Witcher” were a massive success.
Do you think you’d get along well with Ciri if you actually met her?
Interesting question. In a way, Ciri and I are quite similar. Maybe we won’t (laughs) … because, like Ciri, I’m very competitive. So we’d probably clash a little bit. I feel like it would be one of those friendships where we’d have some things in common. But then, in moments where something becomes in any way competitive, we’d probably find each other annoying (laughs).
As we speak, I’ve seen six of the eight episodes in Season 2. But moving beyond that, what are you allowed to tell us about Season 3?
Oh, you have to see the final episode of Season 2 … wait for it! As for Season 3, what I can tell you is that I am excited for Ciri to meet various other characters, a couple of whom she’ll build relationships with. That’s all I’m going to say because otherwise, I’ll end up getting into trouble (laughs).
