In its eight episode run, Netflix's The Witcher introduces loads of characters, many of whom fans will recognize from the Andrzej Sapkowski novels and CD Projekt Red games that came before. In addition to the core trio - Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), Yennefer of Vengeberg (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Alla) -- there are a wealth of other characters with notable performers in The Witcher cast, including Emma Appleton as Renfri, Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor and MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries.
If you want to know more about these characters or the actors who are playing them, we've got you covered. Here's a breakdown of every character in The Witcher and where you recognize their performers from. Spoilers for Season 1 continue below.
Renfri (actress: Emma Appleton)
The breakout supporting character of The Witcher Season 1 is easily Renfri, played by Emma Appleton. Renfri's story is inspired by Snow White, with her being a princess cast out of her home and on the run, protected by a merry band of vagabonds. Renfri's story is directly tied in with the sorcerer Stregobor's (more on him next). He believes she is one of several women who is cursed and evil, and he is trying to kill them all.
Geralt crosses paths -- and swords -- with Renfri in the town of Blaviken, and though he quickly develops an affinity for her, he ends up killing her to protect the town. Turns out that was the wrong call, as the townspeople also cared for Renfri, and Geralt forever becomes known as the "Butcher of Blaviken." Renfri appears to Geralt in visions throughout Season 1, as it's clear their paths crossing left an indelible impact on him.
Emma Appleton, the British actress who plays Renfri, is a relative unknown. She played the lead character in the 2019 Channel 4 series Traitors and starred in the 2017 BBC series Clique. Netflix viewers may recognize her as the character Kelly in the Season 1 premiere of The End of the F***ing World.
Stregobor (actor: Lars Mikkelsen)
The sorcerer Stregobor is a prime example of the dark, corrupt nature of magic users on The Continent. He is first introduced in episode 1 of The Witcher as the character trying to get Geralt to kill Renfri, but he also serves as Istredd's teacher and a key figure in the leaders of the northern sorcerers' circle, the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Both Geralt and Yennefer clash with him frequently on moral and political levels.
Stregobor is played by Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen, brother of Hannibal's Mads Mikkselsen. He's been in a number of notable projects, including Netflix's House of Cards as Viktor Petrov, Sherlock as Charles Manussen and the original, Danish version of The Killing. You also might recognize his voice from Star Wars Rebels, where he plays Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Queen Calanthe (actress: Jodhi May)
Queen Calanthe, played by British actress Jodhi May, is Ciri's grandmother, the strong-willed and hot-headed warrior queen of Cintra. Calanthe is portrayed as fiercely protective of her family, particularly her only daughter, Pavetta (Gaia Mondadori). Calanthe crosses paths with Geralt when she hires him to come to a feast where she plans to determine who Pavetta will marry. Things don't go according to plan, and Geralt ends up being promised Pavetta's firstborn child with the prince Duny, aka Ciri.
When Pavetta later dies, Calanthe becomes overwrought and transfers that fierce protectiveness to her only granddaughter. She refuses to give Ciri to Geralt as the Law of Surprise dictates, and her magical advisor, Moussack, implies that that could be a reason fate caused Cintra to fall to the Nilfgaardians. Though Ciri loves Pavetta, she is poorly viewed by both the conclave of sorcerers and sorceresses (for not accepting their help for decades and bullishly fighting her own battles) and the commonpeople (who believe, seemingly rightfully so, that Calanthe's bullishness is responsible for their hardships and Cintra's downfall). Calanthe dies in the first episode of Season 1, but thanks to the various timelines threaded through the narrative of the series, we see her several times throughout the course of the season.
You've been seeing Jodhi May's for decades; she played Alice Munro in 1992's Last of the Mohicans, Molly Roth in 1988's A World Apart and Tamara Skidelsky in 2008's Defiance. More recently, she was Maggy the Frog on Game of Thrones, and starred as Beth in 2017's Let Me Go.
Eist (actor: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson)
The former Jarl of Skellige-turned-King of Cintra, Eist was a longtime flame of Queen Calanthe before she finally tied the knot with him following Pavetta's betrothal to Duny. He serves as a grandfather/father figure to Ciri alongside Calanthe, and is a loyal, if humorously inappropriate, husband to his queen.
Eist is played by Icelandic actor Björn Hlynur Haraldsson whose most notable TV role was in Showtime's The Borgias. He has largely starred in programs from Iceland, including Hraunið and Ófærð, and British TV like Fortitude.
Pavetta (actress: Gaia Mondadori)
As detailed above, Pavetta is the daughter of Queen Calanthe of Cintra and mother of Princess Cirilla. She marries Duny, a prince who was promised Pavetta by the Law of Surprise after he saved her father many years prior. Despite the fact Duny is cursed to look like a hedgehog, Pavetta falls in love with him and desires to marry him. Ever protective, Calanthe tries to prevent her daughter from marrying Duny and unwittingly unleashes Pavetta's burgeoning yet uncontrolled magical powers, which we see Ciri exhibit throughout Season 1. Pavetta dies at some point during the events of The Witcher's first season, leaving her mother caring for her daughter and with Ciri promised to Geralt through another Law of Surprise binding.
Pavetta only appears in one episode in Season 1 and is played by British theater actress Gaia Mondadori. This is her first film or TV role.
Duny (actor: Bart Edwards)
Duny is a cursed prince who Pavetta falls in love with and marries, and who is the father of Ciri. He was promised Pavetta, daughter of Calanthe, through the Law of Surprise after he saved her father many years prior. When he meets Pavetta, he is cursed to look like a hedgehog, as you see above, but after she agrees to marry him --- and after a feast-destroying showdown with Calanthe and Geralt -- the curse is lifted and he looks like a human again. Both he and Pavetta died on a shipwreck at some point over the years, which is why Ciri is raised by Calanthe.
The actor who plays Duny is Bart Edwards. A British actor, Edwards is best known for roles in UnREAL as Jasper Hunt, as Joe in Peep Show and as Olly in EastEnders.
Tissaia de Vries (actress: MyAnna Buring)
Tissaia de Vries is Yennefer's mentor and one of the rectors at the sorceress school of Aretuza. Though she plucked Yennefer out of a horrible life when she was young, their relationship is contentious, and Yennefer remained at odds with Tissaia for many years. Tissaia is tightly-wound, though for the sake of her students; she tells Yennefer to be careful of her tendency to slip into chaos, and to control her magical abilities. Despite their differences, Tissaia and Yennefer team up one fateful time at the Battle of Sodden Hill to try to protect the northern regions of the Continent from Nilfgaardian invasion.
Myanna Buring, a Swedish actress, plays Tissaia. Her notable roles include Ripper Street, Downton Abbey and Neill Marshall's The Descent.
Cahir (actor: Eamon Farren)
Frequent subject of Ciri's nightmares, Cahir is a Nilfgaardian soldier who chased Ciri out of the burning remains of Cintra, staying hot on her trail as she ran away to try to find Geralt of Rivia. His story differs in the show than in the novels, as he stays on Ciri's trail and later teams up with Fringilla as heads to lead the charge on Sodden Hill. Cahir's most notable feature is his winged helmet, which haunts Ciri in the books as she can't quite remember how she escaped her pursuer getting out of Cintra.
In the show, Cahir is played by Australian actor Eamon Farren, whose most notable role before The Witcher was in 2017's Twin Peaks revival as Richard Horne.
Triss (actress: Anna Shaffer)
Triss is one of the most prominent side characters in The Witcher books and games, and frequently is presented as another possible love interest to him beyond Yennefer. In the show, she encounters Geralt during his encounter with King Foltest and the striga, and later reunites with her longtime friend Yennefer at the Battle of Sodden. Though we don't see much of their backstory, Triss is one of Yennefer's better friends among the sorceresses and a great ally of both Yennefer and Geralt. Triss is an incredibly powerful magic user, and we see in the show she has an affinity for nature-based magic, raising up poisonous mushrooms and creating a wall of roots to ward of Nilfgaardian attackers.
Triss is played by British actress Anna Shaffer, who you'll recognize as Romilda Vane from the Harry Potter movies. Beyond that, she's starred in a whopping 242 episodes of the British soap opera Hollyoaks.
Jaskier (actor: Joey Batey)
Jaskier (known as Dandelion to Witcher book and games fans) is a The Witcher's bard and technically Geralt's best friend, but not because Geralt necessarily wants things that way. A reknowned bard and even more reknowned lothario, Jaskier is the comic relief of The Witcher. It's often his antics that get Geralt into his most notable scrapes, and the two cross paths throughout the years as Jaskier becomes more famous and more frequently annoys his white-haired friend.
In the show, British actor Joey Batey plays the scene-stealing Jaskier. He recently starred in History's Knightfall, Starz's The White Queen and even voiced Cesar in the English version of Dragon Quest Heroes II.
Fringilla Vigo (actress: Mimi Ndiweni)
Ah, Yennefer, if only you had gone to Nilfgaard instead of tricking your way into heading to Aedirn in place of Fringilla, what a different show we would have. Instead, Yennefer manages to make her way into King Demavend's court in place of Fringilla, sending her fellow sorceress off to Nilfgaard to serve the Emperor. There, Fringilla meddles with so-called "dark" magic, though she argues that magic cannot be "light" and "dark."
Over the years she becomes a true ally of Nilfgaard and is a devout believer in what the seemingly villainous country stands for. She leads the invasion into the Northern Kingdoms and spearheads the clash against her former allies and sorcerers at Sodden Hill. Fringilla is the niece of Artorius, the chief sorcerer in the Brotherhood.
Fringilla is played by British actress Mimi Ndiweni, who has played notable roles in British series Mr. Selfridge and Rellik and had small roles in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (as a Resistance fighter), The Legend of Tarzan, Doctor Who and Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella.
Istredd (actor: Royce Pierreson)
Yennefer's first love, Istredd is a sorcerer who came up in his training at the same time as Yennefer. He is one of the few characters on the show who knew Yennefer before her transformation, and the two had a romantic relationship. But after Yennefer discovered Istredd had been spying on her for Stregobor (despite the fact she had been doing the same for Tissaia), she cut ties with him after she completed her transformation.
He tells her many years later that he had held a torch for her for a long time, convinced that they were meant for each other, but her years of rebuffs finally convinced him. He credits Stregobor for getting him to refocus on his work, and despite Yennefer trying to rekindle their love once she realizes she may have made a mistake pursuing power over partnership, he declines her overtures. When we last see Istredd, he has allied himself with the Nilfgaardians.
Royce Pierreson, the actor who plays Istredd, starred opposite Renee Zellweger in 2019's Judy Garland biopic Judy. In addition to his British TV roles, he is a frequent video game voice actor, performing voices for 2016's Hitman, 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda and 2017's Need for Speed: Payback.
Vilgefortz (actor: Mahesh Jadu)
Only introduced in the final two episodes of The Witcher Netflix series, Vilgefortz is one of the most important characters to keep an eye on in Season 2 and going forward. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers who convinces -- well, tricks -- Yennefer into returning to Aretuza and helping Tissaia in the showdown that eventually became the Battle of Sodden Hill. He is a key player in The Witcher books and certainly someone who has more than it seems up his sleeves.
Vilgefortz is played by Indian Australian actor Mahesh Jadu, best known by Netflix viewers as Ahmad from Marco Polo. He also starred as a gargoyle in 2014's I, Frankenstein opposite Aaron Eckhart.
Yennefer of Vengeberg (actress: Anya Chalotra)
Geralt of Rivia's longtime on-again, off-again love interest and the subject of his last wish to the djinn, Yennefer of Vengeberg is an incredibly powerful and strong-willed sorceress and one of the three main characters of The Witcher. The Netflix series fleshes out a backstory only alluded to in the books, showing her as a hunchback taken in and trained by Tissaia. After years of growing up mistreated, Yennefer craves beauty and power, and undergoes the transformation to become a sorceress not fully understanding that, in doing so, she will lose her ability to bear children.
Yennefer's storyline in Season 1 takes place over the course of about 70 years, and though she gets her time at court and has many lovers, she finds her life unfulfilled. Instead, she tries to fix the changes she underwent to become a sorceress and reclaim her ability to have children, constantly trying to find loopholes to get around the seemingly unfixable decision. She becomes bound with Geralt during one such attempt, when she tries to capture a djinn and force it to give her back the ability to bear a child.
Despite years at odds with her former teacher, Yennefer is forced to choose a side and fight for something once Nilfgaard destroys Cintra and heads its invasion toward the rest of the Northern Kingdoms. She unleashes her full power at the Battle of Sodden, defeating the Nilfgaard forces, but at what cost?
23-year-old British-Indian actress Anya Chalotra plays Yennefer in Netflix's The Witcher series. Prior to her role on The Witcher, Chalotra studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and recently had stints in 2018's Wanderlust and 2019's animated Sherwood.
Princess Cirilla (actress: Freya Allan)
In many ways the center of The Witcher stories, Princess Cirilla of Cintra -- or Ciri -- is bound by fate to Geralt of Rivia. She has unkown but powerful magical abilities, only touched on in Season 1 of the series but the origins of which are a core part of the central story of The Witcher books. Ciri is the daughter of Pavetta and Duny and the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe of Cintra. Her storyline in Season 1 takes place over the course of about two weeks, with her escaping Cintra and trying to find Geralt, only to come across elves, former Cintrans and even a nice family who want to capture her.
She finally fulfills destiny as a Child of Surprise by uniting with Geralt in episode 8. In the books, she actually has met Geralt once already by the time they meet again after the fall of Cintra, but The Witcher Netflix series nixed that plot point in favor of having them finally come together in the final moments of Season 1.
Freya Allan plays Ciri in The Witcher series. Allan, an 18-year-old British actress, has previously had small roles in Into the Badlands and the British TV mini-series The War of the Worlds, but is a largely unknown newcomer.
Geralt of Rivia, the Butcher of Blaviken (actor: Henry Cavill)
You know him, you love him, Geralt of Rivia is the Witcher in this fan-favorite series. Henry Cavill has been itching for this role for years -- and you of course know Cavill from everything from Man of Steel and the DC expanded universe through Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Cavill absolutely loves Geralt as much as fans do, which we got him to prove when he aced our questions trying to see just how much he knew about The Witcher. Check out how that went in the video below:
Who is your favorite character in The Witcher: Season 1? Let us know in the comments below. And for more on The Witcher, check out every episode review of Season 1 and its ending explained.
Terri Schwartz is Editor-in-Chief of Entertainment at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
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Who's Who in Netflix's The Witcher Cast, from Renfri to Stregobor - IGN Southeast Asia
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