Last year Netflix was hit by criticism following its announcement of a series based on The Witcher.
The show called for a diverse cast but faced a lot of community backlash, and a petition which called for “white actors only” to be cast went viral.
Since then, the topic of diversity has never been far from the upcoming show, and the issue was recently addressed by the series’ showrunner, Lauren Hissrich.

Speaking with ComicBook, Hissrich said the casting process was more of an “anyone’s welcome” process, rather than one with inclusion in mind.
“Yeah, you know we never cast with an eye to, it’s like we don’t cast with an eye to inclusion, we cast with anyone’s welcome, come and prove yourself to us,” said Hissrich. “In terms of The Witcher itself, I came at it from the very beginning that the continent is a huge place, and it’s not our world.”

The books that the series are based on are heavy in Eastern European lore, and often reference Polish folklore.
“I think when you watch it you’ll see a lot of rules being bent in all different ways. I didn’t really care so much about the colour of people’s skin, or their accents, or the colour of their hair.
“To me, it was like do you embody this character? So, yeah, I also think it’s really important, it’s something that I talk to the author a lot about, talk to Andrzej about, which is that he specifically didn’t specify the races of characters. I took that as a sign of approval that we could also cast as we wanted to cast.”

The upcoming show’s official premise reads: “Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
“But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.”
The show will star Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer and Freya Allan as Ciri.
Featured Image Credit: Netflix