How Old Is Ciri in All Seasons of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’?
Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, aka Ciri, The Lion Cub of Cintra, is one of the main characters of The Witcher books, games, and, lastly, the Netflix original show. She is a young, powerful character in the story – the most powerful of all, that is – but fans seemed to be confused about Ciri’s age. So, how old is Ciri in all three seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher?
Ciri is 12-13 years old in The Witcher Season 1 when she met Geralt of Rivia. The second season happens only a year later, meaning Ciri is 13-14 years old during Season 2. Season 3 will likely happen immediately after the events of Season 2, so Ciri will be 14 or 15, depending on how far in the story we go.
Now, it sounds pretty straightforward when you put it like that, but the fan confusion came from a couple of reasons. Firstly, Ciri’s character was aged up for the show compared to the books. Secondly, the actress, Freya Allan, is much older than her character, and she aged a lot since Season 1’s production started up to now. Let’s resolve all the confusion.
How old is Ciri in The Witcher Season 1?
In the first season of Netflix’s original The Witcher, Ciri of Cintra was born in 1250. The fall of Cintra came in 1263 when the forces of Nilfgaard infiltrated and destroyed Ciri’s kingdom. She met Geralt of Rivia the same year when the Law of Surprise had been invoked.
That means that Ciri was 12 or 13 years old during the events of The Witcher Season 1. Now, the character wasn’t as heavily featured in Season 1 as in Season 2, but she is integral to the story, and Season 1 served as the introduction to the character and her vast power.
Compared to Andrzej Sapkowski’s books, as well as the Witcher video games, Ciri was aged up a bit. Ciri was only 10-11 years old when she met Geralt of Rivia in the source material. The reason why the production and writing team chose to age Ciri up a bit was actually of practical nature, not due to a storyline change. I’ll explain it below.
How old is Freya Allan in The Witcher Season 1?
Freya Allan is the young, talented actress portraying Ciri of Cintra in The Witcher series. She was born on September 6, 2001. When The Witcher Season 1 production started in October 2018, Freya was 17 years old.
The initial plan, however, was to cast a 12-year-old actress to portray Ciri. But, the casting crew realized that most of the scenes that Ciri was in would have to be filmed overnight, and due to child labor laws, such a young actress couldn’t, by law, film at such late hours. Therefore, the decision was made to age up the character and the actress portraying Ciri.
That caused a bit of an issue from season to season, but we’ll get to that.
How old is Ciri in The Witcher Season 2?
Season 2 of The Witcher continued the story from Season 1, meaning the plot takes place immediately after the resolution of the first season. The last events we saw in Season 2 took place in 1264. So, if Ciri were born in 1250, that would make her 13-14 years old, depending on whether her birthday had passed or not.
That being said, Ciri looks incredibly different than she did in Season 1 – so much so that some fans wondered if the character was secretly recast. Of course, we now know that it wasn’t the case and that Freya Allan still portrays Cirilla of Cintra.
How old is Freya Allan in The Witcher Season 2?
The confusion about Ciri of Cintra being recast for Season 2 of The Witcher came from her appearance. She looked quite different – more grown up, mature, and overall different.
However, it had nothing to do with Ciri being recast – rather, it had everything to do with the fact that Freya Allan grew up during the production of Season 2, and her appearance had changed as a result.
The principal photography for The Witcher Season 2 began in February 2020, when Freya was 18 years old. However, COVID-19 struck, and production halted for several months from March 2020 onward.
Production resumed in August 2020 until it halted again in November due to many crew members testing positive for COVID-19. Again, production resumed a few weeks later, only to slow down again due to Henry Cavill’s on-set injury. In the end, filming wrapped in April 2021, when Allan was already 19 – almost 20 years old.
Seeing that Freya aged almost three years while her character, Ciri, hadn’t aged at all between Season 1’s finale and Season 2’s beginning, it’s clear why people were confused over her appearance. Hold on to your hats, folks, because you’ll likely be even more confused in Season 3.
How old is Ciri in The Witcher Season 3?
Again, just like Season 2 took place right in the aftermath of Season 1, Season 3 of The Witcher will continue the story immediately after The Witcher Season 2’s finale. That means we’re likely still in 1264, meaning Ciri is still 14 years old.
By the end of the season, I reckon she’ll be at least 15 or more, depending on how far into the story we go. Keep in mind, in The Witcher 3 video game. We go a bit further into the future when Ciri is already 21 years old.
I doubt the show will go that far into the future, but seeing that Henry Cavill announced his departure, who knows where the writers will take us in Season 3 and Season 4.
However, Ciri looks a lot older, stronger, and more mature in The Witcher Season 3 trailer.
How old is Freya Allan in The Witcher Season 3?
The Witcher Season 3 filming was done without delays, so it took far less time to wrap everything up. Production began in April 2022 – about a year after the filming of Season 2 wrapped – and finished already in September 2022. It was only five months of filming compared to the 14 months it took to finish Season 2.
That means Freya Allan was 20 years old, portraying a 14-15-year-old character, and just turned 21 when filming ended in September 2022.
In my humble opinion, it would be interesting to see Season 3’s finale go a bit into the future and show us a 21-year-old Ciri, just like The Witcher 3 video game. It would break the age gap between the actress and the character for Season 4 and likely confuse Ciri’s mature appearance to disappear.
When is The Witcher Season 3 coming out?
Fans of the show, rejoice! The Witcher Season 3 is already on Netflix on June 29, 2023. That is, the show’s first five episodes are arriving on June 29.
However, The final three episodes will drop on Netflix about a month later – on July 27, 2023. We’re eager to see what they have in store for us and what kind of farewell will be given to Henry Cavill before being replaced in Season 4.
Is The Witcher going to have a Season 4?
When it was announced that Henry Cavill ‘likely’ won’t return as Geralt of Rivia for The Witcher Season 4, fans believed that the show might be canceled and that Season 4 might never happen. As it turns out, Season 4 will certainly happen, but without Henry Cavill.
Instead, Liam Hemsworth will take over as Geral of Rivia, as was revealed by Henry Cavill himself on Instagram:
“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4. In my stead, the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf.
As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men.
Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
Rumors suggest that Cavill disputed with the writing team too much due to their ‘lack of respect’ for the source material, but then again, it was never actually officially confirmed why Cavill chose to depart from a character he loved and enjoyed so dearly.
The only thing we know for sure is that The Witcher will continue without Henry, much to the dismay of many fans. We can only hope that Mr. Hemsworth will do a decent job, although seeing the change right in the middle of the show will be incredibly weird.
