The Witcher on Netflix 2: Man of steel and silver

[3CityApache]

Just noticed the previous thread was closed for length.

So reportedly the next character casted in a show is Renfri, who is going to be played by Millie Brady. I wouldn't mind if it was true. Apparently she appears in the first episode only, which means the show starts with Lesser Evil short story, and not The Witcher, which is a bit odd, but perhaps they just decided it's more powerful emotionally, which is true.

[3CityApache]

And most of the rest of the cast is known as well at last. I really like Ciri and Yennefer. But where is Jaskier?

[Werthead]

The cast announced so far.

[Spring Bass]

The actress they cast for Yennefer looks really young, barely older than the actress they cast for Ciri. That said, we've also got a young Geralt with Cavill, and Chalotra could work great if she can nail a world-wise Yennefer in tone and manner.

[Red Tiger]

I can...sorta buy the actress for Ciri, but the actress for Yen? Nah.

[3CityApache]

 

7 minutes ago, All Souls Bass said:

The actress they cast for Yennefer looks really young, barely older than the actress they cast for Ciri. 

And that's exactly as it should be. Yennefer was 94 years old in the books, but looked as an early twenty.

@Red Tiger, why not?

[Mark Antony]

22 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

 Renfri, who is going to be played by Millie Brady. I wouldn't mind if it was true. Apparently she appears in the first episode only.

That’s a shame shes only in one episode. I liked her in The Last Kingdom.

[Werthead]

1 hour ago, 3CityApache said:

 

And that's exactly as it should be. Yennefer was 94 years old in the books, but looked as an early twenty.

@Red Tiger, why not?

The actress is apparently 22, so it's more or less true to the books.

I think the problems are that 1) too many people had the video game version in mind and that mean an older-looking Yennefer (in the game she looks about 30 and the most popular actress choice for the role, Eva Green, is 38) and 2) having a 22-year-old actress knocking boots with a 35-year-old actor might look a bit gross on screen.

The book canon is also a bit contradictary on this (IIRC). On the one hand, whilst the sorceresses did make themselves look younger and more attractive than they really were, they also made themselves look old enough to be authoritative and engender some respect, so they didn't tend to look like teenagers.

[3CityApache]

9 minutes ago, Werthead said:

On the one hand, whilst the sorceresses did make themselves look younger and more attractive than they really were, they also made themselves look old enough to be authoritative and engender some respect, so they didn't tend to look like teenagers.

Generally speaking that's correct. Yennefer decided to look almost like a teenager or like she was in her early twenties deliberately, because of how she looked as a young girl, before she became a sorceress. Just in case I'll spoiler tag it, as it might be used as minor twist:

Spoiler

She was hanchbacked and generally pretty ugly.

As for the second problem, Geralt in the books is in his early fifties and though he looks younger, not that much younger to pass as a 35 years old, so the difference in looks is much smaller anyway.

[Spring Bass]

It'll come down to how she does Yen's voice and manner. If she can come across as a much older and experienced person who is wearing a young woman's face because of magic, then it can work. 

 

[Werthead]

Nice casting crossover: MyAnna Buring (Tissaia) played Anna Henrietta in The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine.

[Red Tiger]

12 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

 

And that's exactly as it should be. Yennefer was 94 years old in the books, but looked as an early twenty.

@Red Tiger, why not?

I can't buy her as this great, mysterious and dangerous beauty.

[SweetPea]

Ciri looks great, but I don't like Yen at all, too young and different from how she's described in the books.  And I'm not even surprised at Fringilla, this is Netflix after all.

[mormont]

6 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

Ciri looks great, but I don't like Yen at all, too young and different from how she's described in the books. 

I see a lot of people saying this, and I do wonder if they've looked at more than that one picture? Chalotra is young, yes, but that picture rather emphasises her youthful appearance. Look at this picture for a contrast.

6 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

And I'm not even surprised at Fringilla, this is Netflix after all.

Do we need to do the 'I'm not racist, I just want accuracy to the books!!!!!' dance? Even for a minor character? I think the fact that you're taking this tone tells us pretty much the whole story. 

[3CityApache]

I think Fringilla is great, though I'm a bit surprised she has been casted at all, as the first season covers only short stories, and I'm not sure she appears in any of them in the books. She may be just mentioned in the battle of Sodden context IIRC, as she was the one who blinded Yennefer.

[SweetPea]

3 hours ago, mormont said:

I see a lot of people saying this, and I do wonder if they've looked at more than that one picture? Chalotra is young, yes, but that picture rather emphasises her youthful appearance. Look at this picture for a contrast.

I've seen several pictures, but I'm not convinced. We'll see how she looks after makeup, costumes etc. but right now I can't see her as the beautiful yet menacing sorceress. 

Quote

Do we need to do the 'I'm not racist, I just want accuracy to the books!!!!!' dance? Even for a minor character? I think the fact that you're taking this tone tells us pretty much the whole story. 

Believe whatever you want. I think it's bullshit that they're forcing diversity into every show and changing the book canon unnecessarily.

[Maltaran]

1 hour ago, SweetPea said:

Believe whatever you want. I think it's bullshit that they're forcing diversity into every show and changing the book canon unnecessarily.

To turn that around, why do you consider it necessary that they slavishly adhere to the descriptions given in the book?

[Werthead]

 

Quote

too young and different from how she's described in the books

As I think someone else said, at one point in the books Jaskier says that Yenn looks about 16 years old, so really not so much. More of an issue are people who've only played the video games getting annoyed the actors don't look like the game characters (although that's pretty much impossible in the first place).

Whether it's a good idea to cast such a young-looking actress opposite a 35-year-old, very well known actor is a different argument. It could be argued that the games actually did a good thing there, ageing up Yenn to about 30-ish and making them look more of an age.

[SweetPea]

6 hours ago, Maltaran said:

To turn that around, why do you consider it necessary that they slavishly adhere to the descriptions given in the book?

Because I happen to love the books, and I would love to see a faithful adaptation of it on screen, not fanfiction. That, and there's obviously the political aspect of it, which I detest.

[The Anti-Targ]

On 10/11/2018 at 8:13 AM, All Souls Bass said:

It'll come down to how she does Yen's voice and manner. If she can come across as a much older and experienced person who is wearing a young woman's face because of magic, then it can work. 

 

The thing to do early in the season would be to have a CGI shot of Yen being a butt ugly 90-something year old who switched off her glamour for some reason, and then with a swish and a flick, she puts her young and pretty gameface on. Done. Now Geralt isn't some cradle robbing creep, he's an unwitting (or willfully ignorant?) geriatrophile.

I wouldn't want to make her as gross and pestilential as the Crones in TW3. But definitely a face only a mother could love.

I do wonder why any sorceress of any age or [lack of] beauty would want to facilitate a man's inner pedophile by putting a teenage glamour on themselves. Early 20's is OK, might still raise eyebrows, but there's no ickyness to it.