It’s only been a few months since it was announced that Netflix are producing a new TV series based on The Witcher novels and news updates have been slow to come, unsurprisingly for such an ambitious production.
At the moment, all we know is that Henry Cavill has been cast as in the lead role of Geralt of Rivia (which is a damn good piece of casting) and the showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich is currently busy putting the scripts together in the writer’s room while hunting down actors to fill in all the other big roles.
Everything seems to be going alright, yeah?
An unconfirmed casting call for the Witcher surfaced recently and it specifically asked for a “16 or 15 year old” Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) actress for the role of Ciri, a major character in the series who is Geralt’s adopted daughter.
For those who are unaware, Ciri is depicted in the video games as a white character, meaning that the upcoming show will deviate from that interpretation.
But since The Witcher is a beloved fantasy series to many fans and because the internet is more easily provoked than an enraged bull in a bullring, many fanboys – most of whom are coincidentally white dudes – had quite the field day objecting to Hissrich’s decision to cast a BAME actress as Ciri.
https://twitter.com/Toby1ee/status/1038326953646800897
I had to think about why this bothered me. Part of it is that I've dumped countless hours into the games and the books and I have a strong image of the characters. That isn't all of it, though.
The Witcher is not an American story.
— Christ Snake (@SnakeChrist) September 8, 2018
If Ciri is a bame girl, i’m boycotting this show. Probably the whole fanbase in Poland will. Extremely disrespectful. For them it’s not some fantasy netflix marvel show. It’s a historic cultural based story in Poland with eastern european folklore. From research you should know.
— Damiano (@DamianoGaming) September 8, 2018
The internet has struck again in closed-minded fashion over the potential diverse casting of actors for a major project, so much so that there’s even a ridiculous Change.org petition asking the show’s producers to widen the casting net for Ciri to include white actors.
Yeah, it’s all pretty dumb.
It’s almost like the fanboys forget that while The Witcher may be loosely influenced by Eastern Europe, it is a fantasy series at its core so why would having people of colour be any weirder than having vampires and dragons?
Either way, the backlash from fanboys was so intense that Hissrich announced she will take a hiatus from Twitter, so good job all you close-minded folk.
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?
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) September 10, 2018
For what it’s worth, Hissrich previously tweeted that she plans on staying faithful to the source material and that means definitely including minorities, not to mention that the author of the original Witcher novels Andrzej Sapakowski told her publicly that the setting is big and diverse in its population in every way, so I guess we can definitely expect the show to feature a number of diverse actors.
Not that it really matters to enraged internet folk, but just food for thought.
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
But will there be minorities? Yes. A man would be a minority in Brokilon Forest. A person of color would be a minority in a small village. An islander would be an minority in Cintra. Mr. Sapkowski has said — publicly, and to me — that the Continent is big and diverse —
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) May 11, 2018
We’re still ages away from even a teaser of The Witcher Netflix series, so all this rage is completely pointless since no one has any idea on what to expect.
Hopefully all this idiocy will have blown by the time the casting is finalised and we get to see who is finally cast as Ciri. But just to annoy all those closed-minded peeps, I hope Hissrich sticks to her guns and casts a Black, Asian, or minority ethnic for every single character.