Freya Allan is currently being praised for her standout role in this weekend's new release, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. However, many of you will know the actress best for her breakout role in The Witcher.
The Netflix series lost Henry Cavill at the end of season 3 and, after Blood Origin bombed, the next two seasons will be shot back-to-back, ending with a fifth and final batch of episodes (plans for another spin-off, The Rats, have been scrapped).
Talking to Inverse (via SFFGazette.com), Allan - whose role as Ciri put her on the map before being cast in the latest Apes movie - revealed why she's ready to move on from the Continent.
"The Witcher definitely set up a lot for me, just in terms of being my drama school and providing me with a certain level of confidence," the actress said. "You also learn so many random skills. I’ve already done a lot of stunt work, I know how to ride horses."
"I was so kind of finished with it mentally. Initially the challenge was thinking that I had to do two more," Allan says of her feelings after season 3. "It's going to be the end of a massive chapter, which I'm excited for and ready for. But I think when I actually get to it, I'm going to be shocked at how much that hits me."
While the spin-off is no longer moving forward, Allan says she's excited to explore the Rats storyline which has now been incorporated into The Witcher's main series. "This is the storyline that I’ve been wanting and most excited me from the beginning of the show," she teases.
"Ciri obviously has changed throughout, but we really see a different Ciri in this one. By the end of the last season she's gone through so much that it's the last straw. And I think she kind of ends up trying to reside in this other version of herself, and...she kind of enters a zone of just, 'I'm just going to be brutal because I'm sick of the world being brutal to me.'"
As for how she feels about Liam Hemsworth picking up where Cavill left off, Allan says, "He's so sweet and just such a normal guy and so willing to connect. And I feel bad for him because he's had so much weight and pressure on his shoulders, joining a new cast as one of the leads and replacing someone else who's already done three seasons."
"It's a lot. It's been important for the rest of us to really make him feel that he's a part of the family."
The Witcher never really took off the way Netflix hoped, with fans mixed on that muddled first season. Seasons 2 and 3 received better reviews, but the long wait for them saw a lot of viewers lose interest.
The Witcher season 4 is now shooting but likely won't return to Netflix until 2025.