By With production gearing up for its final weeks on set of The Witcher‘s second season, the few remaining unrevealed cast members for the Netflix series have slowly begun to surface. Last week, we uncovered the much-anticipated casting for the sorceress Philippa Eilhart, and today we may have identified one of the saga’s most despicable villains: Rience.
We have recently learned that Chris Fulton has joined the cast of The Witcher Season 2, and we now have good reason to believe that he is the actor behind Rience. Fulton is known for the role of Charlie Lamont Smith in the first season of Clique, as well as the role of Euan Bruce in the film Outlaw King. He has also appeared in HBO’s Succession and Netflix’s Bridgerton.
Last year, a casting breakdown leaked by Daniel RPK described Rience (under the codename “Richard”) as follows:
“Recurring role, age 30-35, appears in three episodes. Fit and full of anger. Imprisoned by the queen and released after her death, he later finds himself in charge of searching for the prized Jewel. Smart, cunning, and sadistic. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.“
Fulton was on set in the past month, while filming was taking place in Arborfield Studios. This was when Cintra flashbacks were filmed featuring deceased season one characters. From what we gather, Fulton may have been involved in these flashbacks and, if we are correct about his role, that would support the theory that the queen mentioned in Rience’s description could be Queen Calanthe (Jodhi May).
We couldn’t find confirmation of Jodhi May being on set, so if she wasn’t available, Rience would only be part of present-day scenes from Blood of Elves. Some of them are quite iconic and fan-favorite sequences, including the one with Yennefer saving Jaskier and of course Geralt‘s fight with Rience and the Michelet brothers. But we shall see if and how those scenes will be incorporated into the second season’s overall plot which may differ from the books in one way or another.
With Philippa and (likely) Rience now identified, we can’t wait to uncover the remaining cast of season two, especially the roles of Dijkstra and Nenneke. Follow our Twitter page @RedanianIntel for all the latest news from the Continent.
Yeah, it will be perfect if in some aspects he will be frenzied copy of Gerald.