Filming for the fourth season of The Witcher was originally supposed to begin in autumn 2023, but the big Hollywood strike also hit Netflix: new production is not expected to start until March 2024 – and the actors are slowly getting warmed up. This applies not only to Henry Cavill’s replacement Liam Hemsworth, but also to Ciri actress Freya Allan, who recently appeared in an interview with colleagues from RadioTimes talked about the future of her role.
The interview is actually about Freya Allan’s new horror film Baghead, but a few sentences about The Witcher are mentioned. This is how Allan answers the question about the script:
I’m so excited to see how they translate this story from the books to the series, because this moment is very crucial to Ciri’s journey – and a pretty dark twist. […] I’m really looking forward to accompanying you on this journey.
Freya Allan im Interview mit RadioTimes
Specifically, she talks about Ciri’s time with the rat gang. Without spoiling too much: At the end of season 3 of the Netflix series it is very clearly indicated that season 4 is about Ciri’s time with the very gang that also plays a prominent role in the Witcher books.
Who are the rats?
In the books, the Rat Gang consists primarily of war orphans who have banded together to plunder, rob and murder. The rats are Andrzej Sapkowski’s dark version of a Robin Hood legend: They often leave their prey to the poor because they like to be celebrated as heroes, but actually the rats are mostly interested in having fun killing and robbing. They dress extravagantly, squander their stolen goods, party and drink. Likeable, right?
In the original novel, Ciri is a member of the rats for quite a while under the code name Falka and takes part in various atrocities until the gang takes on the wrong opponents. They call in the famous bounty hunter and witcher slayer Leo Bonhart and the whole story takes a nasty turn.
We don’t yet know how much of this will be included in the Netflix series. Freya Allan also hasn’t seen the entire script yet, but has only seen a single script. So it remains to be seen what angle the showrunners will find here to tell Ciri’s darkest chapter.
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When does season 4 continue?
Filming for Season 4 is expected to continue until October 2024, so the new episodes are not expected to be released until summer 2025. Until then, there should be a prequel series that – fittingly – revolves around the gang of rats. Filming for this was completed in mid-2023, and the cast includes action legend Dolph Lundgren. The start date should be sometime in 2024.