‘The Witcher’ Recasting is Like ‘Doctor Who’ According to This Cast Member
The popular Netflix series The Witcher recently released a limited series prequel called The Witcher: Blood Origin. In it, Minnie Driver plays an ancient, shapeshifting elf who tells the history of the world.
Driver enters the franchise just as its fandom is kicking up a fuss about one character being recast. But she’s not just a new addition to the cast, she’s also a genuine fan. And she has some thoughts about switching actors for the role.
Minnie Driver joins the world of ‘The Witcher’
Driver is happy about her role in The Witcher: Blood Origin, not only because she loves the franchise but because her 14-year-old son and his friends finally think her work is cool. According to Entertainment Weekly, the teens are regular watchers of the series, and they have some concerns.
The character Geralt of Rivia is played by Henry Cavill — for now. He will be with the series for one more season, which drops this summer. After that, Cavill will move on, but his character will stay and be played instead by Liam Hemsworth.
A friend of Driver’s son was not happy about this shake-up, and he went to her for answers.
“We come from this tradition of Doctor Who where the Doctor regenerates. I think we need to look at it far more like it’s amazing,” she explained. “It’s an amazing person, it’s an amazing character, and we should have different people playing it.”
Driver’s role as Seanchai
Driver’s character in the Witcher universe is Seanchai, who is ancient, an elf, and able to shapeshift. She is introduced in the four-episode prequel. According to Movie Web, Declan de Barra, one of the showrunners for the series, says that the prequel was changed to include her:
“We had actually shot a different version of it, and then we came up with this brilliant idea.
We re-shot it because we wanted to bring in this character that Minnie plays of a Seanchaí, a shape-shifting storyteller that sort of drifts between worlds and times, collecting stories like grain, putting them in a seed bank for when the Worlds need them to replant them and let these stories flourish again for when people need them to rally around.
It was just such a lovely, evocative image that we had to go with that.”
Although she only appears so far in the prequel, it’s possible that she may come back in other parts of The Witcher.
“I think the writers at Netflix are very smart,” Driver said. “Like, why not create a character who is functional within the broader universe that you could drop down to further story in a really interesting and exciting way?”
Minnie Driver has a connection to Henry Cavill
Although Driver understands the reasoning behind recasting Cavill, that doesn’t mean she’s glad to see him go. It turns out that she’s old friends with him. He and her brother went to school together, and she has nothing but good things to say about him.
“I’ve known Henry since he was a teenager. I love him,” she said. “He has been the loveliest person, I can attest since he was a young man. He is divine.”
Driver is enthusiastic about playing Seanchai and is a big fan of the entire series. Because her character is a shapeshifter, so even if Seanchai comes back in other parts of the series, she may be played by another actor. But it’s clear from her take on recasting Geralt that Driver will understand if that happens.
