The showrunner for The Witcher Netflix TV show has left Wwitter due to the backlash from the rumored casting call for Ciri. The series is allegedly seeking to cast a non-white actor for the role of Geralt of Rivia’s adoptive daughter. Lauren S. Hissrich has said that she will concentrate on writing the show during her hiatus from the social network.
Lauren S. Hissrich announced this departure from Twitter only a few days after the alleged casting call for Ciri was discovered. She noted in a tweet that “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.” This also has come after Hissrich defending her stance on casting minorities in the adaptation recently. She responded to criticisms to this view by saying that she is, in fact, keeping in line with the franchise by including minorities. She also added that she will not be changing the race of various character due to her “feeling really “liberal” that day.” However, she did not comment directly on Ciri’s casting.
The answer is: I will not deviate from the books’ races and cultures, which means I WILL include minorities. The trap people fall into is equating “ minority” with skin color. (Note: people saw the writers’ room picture I tweeted and railed “Why so diverse?! Why no Europeans?!”
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) May 11, 2018
Will I move through the book and start changing people’s cultural heritage or ethnic makeup or gender because I’m feeling really “liberal” that day? No. That’s ridiculous and contrary to what ANY writer would do, because we are storytellers. Story comes first.
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) May 11, 2018
This casting call for Ciri was discovered recently on the National Youth Theatre auditions page. It asks for a “16 or 15 year old BAME [Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnicity] girl who can play down to 13/14. Must not be older than 18 years old.” This lead to some backlash on the Reddit page for the franchise, and on forums such as ResetEra over its differences when compared to the source material.
The Witcher Netflix show is expected to arrive either in 2019 or 2020.
