[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8139″ img_size=”640×320″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]The Hollywood Reporter got an exclusive interview with Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who will be run and executive produce the Witcher along side Alik Sakharov, who has worked on shows like Game of Thrones, and House of Cards.
Freya Allan cast as Ciri, who is fairly new as an actress, but I do have confidence in Lauren so I will trust Freya Allen will meet expectation and Anya Chalotra cast as Yennefer who is also new as an actress. I am all aboard having new actors and actress so this peaks my interest a lot.
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich left twitter for a little while because of backlash of fans (Predicable) from a leaked casting notice. This calling notice asked for a Black, Asian and minority actresses for the role of Ciri.
She put out a tweet last month saying,
“It’s time for a Twitter hiatus. The love here is amazing, and the hate is enlightening, like a real-life Trial of the Grasses, except I HAVE to read less and write more — or we won’t have a damn finale. Be back soon with more insight and more Roach. Be nice to each other, okay?”
I love this tweet because she mentions the fans that do enjoy her work, but thanks to the cancerous side of the fandom she had to put twitter on hold. I also love when she says, ” I HAVE to read less and write more.” this definitely stuck with because she wants to put her all into this and have no distractions. A lot of people in the industry can learn from this.
Does the fervor and anticipation around the series make it more appealing to you, or is it intimidating?
It’s certainly not what attracted me to the project. What attracted me was how I felt about the books. I fell in love with them, the characters and the stories. The fervor around it took me by surprise at first, frankly. I had been on Twitter since 2013, but when I first stuck my neck out I was surprised with the response. It’s something I feel really strongly about right now. I’m in this position to peel back the curtain a tiny bit to show people the process of making television. I wanted people to understand that I’m not trying to make this property my own or put my stamp on it, or make an American or female vision of it, or any specific vision of it. I just wanted people to know that I really respected the material. Truthfully, the controversy about Ciri, my own politics or the fact that I’m a woman, to me, just interacting with the fans has helped an enormous amount, because they see I’m on their side.
The role of Ciri specifically caused a bit of backlash last month. Why do you think certain fans reacted that way?
It boils down to a couple things. One, this property has such a passionate fan base. I think any leak at all was going to attract this type of attention, and with any attention comes backlash to that attention. I do think that whatever information is trickling out there, there will be people responding positively to it and people responding negatively to it. I think that’s just part of making a television show, and especially a show this big. In terms of why people responded so strongly, I think the fans really have pictures of these characters in their minds and I don’t blame them for that. I get it. When I read my favorite books I certainly imagine characters a certain way. There’s obviously a couple lines of description of Ciri in the books and people become very enamored with their own vision of it. I think coming in as a writer and saying my vision might look different than yours is scary for fans, but truthfully I don’t think it has to be. One of the things I feel most strongly about is people being afraid that we’re going to strip out the cultural context of The Witcher, to remove its Slavic roots, the very thing people in Poland are proud of. That couldn’t be further from the truth. What I’ve always wanted to do is take these Slavic stories and give them a global audience.
The Witcher series, while centered on Geralt, features many strong female characters. Will the show feature Ciri and Yennefer in prominent roles alongside Geralt?
Yeah, what’s interesting is the first couple books are told from Geralt’s perspective and when I was reading them I saw that there are all these other characters who are very strong and powerful; not just the women, by the way. They can be pulled to the forefront so it doesn’t always feel like just Geralt’s journey, because the journey of one man is never going to be very interesting. It’s only going to be as interesting as the people he interacts with. That’s why these characters are rising in prominence in the series.
The Witcher is in Pre-production right now but things are moving quickly and smoothly. I have all the faith right in the franchise because of the Show-runner, the cast and thanks to the interview the anticipation is even higher. What do you all think of this news ? Did you like the interview do you agree with what she says? Comment down below and tell us your thoughts.
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