The Witcher Season 3 to introduce a fan-favorite female character

18 comments

After The Witcher Season 2 touched on Andrzej Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves, fans were anxious about how much of Time of Contempt would Season 3 feature. Milva aka Maria Barring in particular was a person of high interest in these discussions as she’s a fan-favorite among book readers as well as someone who’s introduction could either be in Season 3 or Season 4.

Discussions sparked again after it was reported that Netflix was casting a female character codenamed “Marylebone”, who had a “razor-sharp wit and was forced to mature quickly in order to survive in a cruel world”. Immediately many thought that this sounds very much like Milva.

READ MORE: 10 New characters in The Witcher Season 3

After doing our own investigation into this, we were able to confirm that Milva will indeed be introduced in The Witcher Season 3. We also found out that towards the end of the season she will interact with Henry Cavill‘s Geralt of Rivia and assist him in a dire situation, marking that the start of their journey together and the very early beginnings of the iconic Hansa.

Milva aka Maria Barring in CDPR’s Gwent artwork

The casting for “Marylebone” was for a series regular position, so it’s very likely that Milva’s arc will begin independently of Geralt and much earlier than the two will meet. Here’s the casting description for the character:

“Marylebone possesses not only a razor sharp wit but a quick blade as well. Her age belies her experience, for she has been forced to mature quickly and learn to survive in a cruel world.

The part about Marylebone possessing a quick blade and the lack of mention of her signature archery skills is raising eyebrows quite a bit, but it could also be somewhat of a red herring. We shall see where the series goes with this.

In addition to that, when referring to characters of Marylebone and Picadilly in the casting call, Netflix was “hoping” to cast LGBTQ+ actors for “one or both” of those roles. Plenty of folks assumed this could be Mistle as well.

All of that being said, we’re not excluding the possibility of “Marylebone” and Milva being two different characters, but we do now know that Milva is surely in Season 3, after confirming it with our sources.


The Witcher Season 3 is currently in pre-production for a 2023 release. Are you looking forward to seeing Milva in the new season? Let us know! Meanwhile here are two directors that we already know to be working on Season 3:

18 comments on “The Witcher Season 3 to introduce a fan-favorite female character”

  1. “The casting for “Marylebone” was for a series regular position, so it’s very likely that Milva’s arc will begin independently of Geralt and much earlier than the two meet.”
    Milva is my favorite character in the books along with Geralt and Regis but this part scares me. Why they have to invent their own backstories for every character they introduce and they don’t let us meet them organically through their interactions with our main characters? It wouldn’t be a problem if the writers were capable to write good stories but s2 proved that when they create their own stories the series is the worst. What it would take for them to stay true to the books? Anyway, I can’t wait for her interactions with Geralt.

    1. They don’t need to invent anything. Milva’s backstory is fairly detailed and comes out in conversations with Geralt and in a flashback just before the end of the final book. In typical fashion, I imagine they’ll start inserting her past into the story in a more sequential fashion, rather than as flashbacks, which they seem to hate.

      Though I don’t think we’ll necessarily see her being raised like a boy and taught to shoot by her original father, we will probably see her get abused by her stepdad, kill him and flee to Brokilon, where she gets “adopted” by the Dryads. “We let you live, now you owe us.”

      With several scenes, they could set her up as guiding some human troops into the forest, almost as if she wishes revenge on the Dryads, only to have it revealed as a set up. For she serves the Dryad Queen loyally.

      The first time she meets Geralt will be when he’s entering Brokilon to recover from the wounds he gets at Thanedd.

  2. Not looking forward to S3 after S2. Possibly they give Milva a spear instead of a bow like they did with the Dryads, citing budget constraints. Or there is the message that long distance weapons in the hands of youngsters are meh. There is good reason for that in the real world, but this a fantasy show.

  3. Thanks for the news RI! I hope they’ll do her character justice unlike so many other characters in s2. Her relationship with Geralt must be one of my favorites in the saga (along with the main three and Geralt-Regis). Her moments with Geralt in BoF after… [spoilers] must be some of the most sad and beautiful character moments in the books.

    1. @PETR6 Not necessarily a lesbian — technically, since they said “LGBTQ” they could make Milva a trans-man or trans-woman…

  4. I knew it. Ohhhh. I know she’s supposed to be pregnant, so why would you need a non-straight actor?

  5. if they do her like they did Cahir they will ruin another fan favorite. Not that I have any excitement left for this show 🙁 first two season slowly ruined it lol

  6. Milva is my favorite and I can’t wait to see her but I don’t think Lauren understands the problems of s2 and she repeats them in s3. She adds more characters and rushes the story without any real character development and without having built the relationships between the main three realistically and to the point it would be convincing they would die for each other and that they’re a true family. Especially Yennefer’s part. She’s not even in the family, she’s just there to train Ciri at this point because no one else was able to help her with her powers. What a bs! They need to work on that and to adapt more than half of BoE in s3 in order to have a chance to make it right. Milva in s3 as a regular would be awesome if s2 didn’t ruined things so much. In s3 they have to give real screen time to Yennefer & Ciri and to Yennefer & Geralt and build their relationships, they have to find a way to make the thanedd banquet to happen, not to mention to properly introduce Philippa and tie all the bs sl from s2. Is there enough time to give us Milva? Unless she’ll be introduced in the last episode and the term “series regular” is meant from now on but with their history I doubt. They’ll probably invent a whole backstory for her which will make her unrecognizable like Fringilla and Francesca. I don’t get them, they reduce the screen time of book characters with interesting and important sl (Philippa/Djisktra/Yarpen) and they create new sl for characters who don’t appear until later with awful results. Can someone more capable take over? Can Henry Cavill threaten to quit if they keep ruining these wonderful books?

  7. Oh God, no, no. They going to make Milva trans or queer?. Im done. This time for real.
    This is not The Witcher. This is a woke pamphlet. These people have no shame.

    1. Trans carried out to the end in medieval times would be adventurous if you think of it…probably worse than the trial of grasses…with slim chances of survival. Milva for sure is straight, so I am not convinced yet that “Marylebone” is Milva. If Milva is making an appearance in S3, then I doubt that there will be time for any more relation building between Yen and Ciri. Which would really be a shame since at the point of exiting S2, no relation between the two has really formed. The mother-daughter-bond is far off.

      1. Milva is pretty tomboyish to start with. She was raised as a boy by her original father and taught to shoot a bow. Its not hard to see what they’re likely to do. Simply dress her as a man in the series. When the reveal of her pregnancy happens, it will have even more of a twist then, I guess.

  8. This is Saddest think. Not even they did really bad fantasy TV show even if they have really good books, but they must do so modern somethin somethin for nothing. I am disgusted by this. They should kick showrunner off because this is horrible. Just send there pegasuses too, and dont forgett some nazic or some great evil. I dont know where you go on this stupid ideas. Why change somethin what works, I mean GoT was succesful because they were close to books as they could be the most. And here they have all story and what they do… just stupidities… congratulation for modern konzum you ruin another great fantasy litetarure.

  9. Idk if they’ll make Milva LGBTQ+ and I don’t mind unless they change her characterization and story (I mean who she is as a person, her motivations for joining Geralt’s hansa, her relationship with Geralt and the rest of the team etc) and I don’t give a damn if they make Jaskier bi bc his sexouality has no impact in the story as he has no impact in the story, he follows Geralt and gets into trouble mostly bc he can’t keep his pants on or his mouth closed, but what i’m afraid is that all these is just for a show and a fan service and not a meaningful and correct representation of the community. Furthermore there are canon characters who represent the LGBTQ+ community and those characters’ sexouality play a part in the story. Also in s2 there were romances where they didnt exist in the books and that way the writers erase the existance of platonic relationships, asexuality etc. For instance I always had the impression that Tissaia never cared for romances, whether she is aro, asexual or too old for this, she shows no interest at all when Rita and Yen were talking about love, and she took no part in the conversation. Why create a romance with her and Vilgefortz? Bc that would make her actions more dramatic later? Bullshit. What’s more dramatic than seeing everything she build destroyed from the people she raised? Also Francesca and fillavander were out of nowhere and made no sense. It just took time from the relationships that really mattered.

  10. If the writing won’t become better and they don’t start following the books I don’t see the series continue past s4. It’s very expensive, the ratings of s2 are worst than s1, there are many series on Netflix rn that are doing much better and are cheaper. It’s a same. It’s all the writers fault. Fans want to see their favorite books, the characters they love and their relationships transferred on screen with respect. Not voleth meir, pregnant elder elves and idk how other original stories that contribute nothing and take screen time from their favorites. I want so much to believe that they learned their lesson and they’ll do milva and the Hansa justice and they’ll stay true to the books but with Lauren on the wheel I fear we’re heading for a major collision, maybe worst than s8 of GOT.

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