'The Witcher' Star Freya Allan Is As Bold as Her Character Princess Ciri — Here’s How

Actors spend a plethora of energy and hard work to get into a character: to give their all, and to make it visible that their personal self differs from their role.

Exhausting? Well, it could be and could not be. But it would obviously not be so if their character is their real-life alter-ego just like Freya Allan and her role, Ciri.

Allan portrayed the role of Cirilla (in short Ciri), the princess of Cintra, in the Polish-American fantasy drama series The Witcher. She and her character have a very keen resemblance in terms of brevity and boldness.

Below learn how the actress Allan's actual life and reel life are alike; how she got cast as Ciri; and details about The Witcher Season 2.

Freya Allan was not Ready for the Role of Ciri

Yes! It's true. Freya didn't know she would portray Ciri in The Witcher, which premiered in December 2019.

She had first auditioned for a minor role as Marilka, a daughter of an alderman. And she was taken in for the first episode.

However, the casting team of The Witcher struggled to find a perfect actor to fit in as the princess of the series. Just then, Sophie Holland, one of the casting directors, proposed to audition Freya for Ciri. With her suggestion, the other team members met with Freya and consequently cast her as the princess.

Freya Allan portrays Princess Cirilla, the lion cub of Cintra, in the Polish-American drama series The Witcher (Photo: YouTube)

Interestingly, Freya got good news just a day before her birthday. She recalled her experience during the MCM London Comic-Con in October 2019 as:

“So they call me up and are like “so Lauren and Alik [Sakharov] and the Producers are flying to London to see you for Ciri” and I’m like “wait a second I just got another role, am I kind of playing…..” and then I found out I got Ciri.”

Losing Parents Made Princess Ciri Bold

As mentioned above, Freya portrays the role of Ciri (full name Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon), a princess of Cintra in The Witcher.

At the beginning of the story, she has a lavish life: she lives in the palace along with her grandmother Queen Calanthe and grandfather King Eist. But their privileged lifestyle gets destroyed as soon as their neighboring country, Nilfgaard, attacks them.

Ciri loses her grandfather in the battle. Knowing that the defeat was inevitable, her grandmother asks her to run away and search for her destined guardian named the Geralt of Rivia.

As supervised, Ciri embarks on a solo journey to find the person she has never seen before. But the tour meets her with many dangers and tests.

One such instance is when she ends up in a magical forest named Brokilon. There she gets the chance to forget her past and be safe with the people called Dryads. However, she bravely chooses not to be safe and finds Geralt — her true destiny — as advised by her grandmother.

Princess Ciri defends herself as her old friends try to give her to the Nilfgaard Army in the first season of The Witcher (Photo: YouTube) 

Freya Allan talked about the boldness of her role during an interview with the Turkish Magazine, Episode, in December 2019.

Ciri’s journey is a true journey of discovery. During her journey she is constantly exposed to new things and is constantly adapting to them. She observes other people’s mistakes and tries to learn from them.

At Age 19, Freya is Just Like Ciri

Be it in case of boldness or brevity or well speaking habit, yes, Ciri and Freya are just the same.

Freya admitted she finds herself relatable to Ciri. She talked about the similarity for a Turkish magazine named Episode in December 2019. She said:

Like Ciri, I never hesitated to say what I thought. Ciri’s ability to speak is one of the features that make her strong. She’s also a stubborn character. We are very similar in this respect.

While Ciri shows her boldness to protect herself from the enemies, Freya does so for the welfare of her fans.

Even though she is just at the age of 19 now (born 6 September 2001), Freya openly talks about the needed topics that are mostly not spoken of.

During the international end obstetric fistula day, she vocalized the issue of obstetric fistula, a health condition brought by weak management during the labor of a pregnant woman. She emphasized how the internal damage would lead the female's body to produce a foul smell, which consequently subjects her to social discrimination.

Freya Allan shares social awareness on Obstetric Fistula through her Instagram in May 2019 (Photo: Freya Allan's Instagram)

Also, Freya chose her stardom to raise funds for Save The Stories, a cause of Save the Children's Foundation to help all the people harshly affected by the Corona Virus Pandemic.

Therefore, through her social media - be it Instagram or Twitter - Freya actively advocates for the betterment of humanity.

Can't Wait to be Back for 'The Witcher' Season 2

Freya was one of the first to share the good news that The Witcher would be back. She revealed, via her Instagram, that the second installment would have much more of Ciri.

Freya Allan returns as Princess Cirilla alongside Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra in the Witcher Season 2 (Photo: Freya Allan's Instagram)

Freya performs alongside Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia, and Anya Chalotra, who plays Yennefer of Vengerberg in The Witcher season 2.