By The Witcher‘s fourth season has been in production since April, and over half of the 8 episodes have already been filmed. As previously reported, Season 4 will be Liam Hemsworth’s debut as Geralt, and series stars Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan will return as Yennefer and Ciri respectfully. Much like the novels that serve as its source material, Andrzej Sapkowski’s Baptism of Fire and Tower of the Swallow, Season 4 will introduce a very dark turn in Ciri’s storyline.
This report contains SPOILERS for Season 4 and the aforementioned novels of the Witcher Saga.
Ciri’s time with the Rats
Season 3 ended with Freya Allan‘s Ciri deciding to join the group of young outlaws who call themselves the Rats. When asked what her name is, Ciri answered: Falka. Falka is more than just a new name, though, it signifies a major shift in Ciri’s characterization.
So far, Ciri has been a good-natured and well-meaning princess who has risked her life to protect innocents. Falka will do that sometimes, but she will also use her acquired skills to further her own desires, including robbery and even murder.
In one such event, the Rats will rob a noblewoman’s carriage, and Ciri steals the woman’s brooch at, simply because she wants to have it. In the books, that was the end of it. In the show, it looks very much like Ciri will kill the Baron’s daughter, slashing her throat with a knife. This scene, and the Rats’ various escapades, will have serious repercussions.
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Freya Allan has filmed a torture scene
Book readers may remember that the Baron of Casadei, who’s daughter was robbed by Falka and the Rats, decides to hire a mercenary to exact his revenge. This mercenary is Leo Bonhart, a man who has killed not just other men, but witchers too, and will be portrayed in Season 4 by Sharlto Copley. The Baron requests that Falka will be brought to him alive, while the other Rats are wanted dead.
Without getting into the details, Ciri ends up captured by Bonhart. And later in Tower of the Swallow, Bonhart drags a chained Ciri around, beating and drugging her for a time, and later throws her into a fighting pit. But all of that is from the books, and there is no guarantee that the show will follow this storyline closely.
What we do know is that Freya Allan has filmed a torture scene. In this scene, Ciri is not wearing her colorful Falka costume anymore, but rags, and she is quite bruised. This scene was filmed during Block 3, which means it will occur in Episode 5 or 6 of Season 4. Considering what we know, and the events that unfold in the books, it’s likely that this torture scene involved Leo Bonhart.
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In the books, Bonhart eventually decides to hand Ciri over to Nilfgaard. Ciri was to be sold to the Nilfgaardian Secret Service agent Stefan Skellen, portrayed in the show by James Purefoy, who is searching for Ciri in the name of her father, Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards).
Eventually, Ciri is able to escape Bonhart’s clutches. Later, Ciri will face off against some more mercenaries in service of Nilfgaard, which we know due to the casting of Andrew French as Rispat La Pointe.
What about Bonhart’s confrontation with the Rats?
From what we know, it seems like the Rats will be heavily featured in the first four episodes of Season 4, and it’s not likely that their confrontation with Bonhart will happen before the end of the fourth episode. So far, Christelle Elwin (Mistle), Ben Radcliffe (Giselher), Aggy K. Adams (Iskra), and Connor Crawford (Asse) have all appeared for filming during Block 3 of the Netflix production, and it’s likely the other Rats were there, too. This means that the Rats will defy expectations and last at least until Episode 5, and perhaps even Episode 6.
Knowing this, there are three options. Either the Rats’ iconic confrontation with Bonhart may occur in Episode 5 or early in 6, or the Rats cast will return for a dream, vision, or flashback scene. There is, of course, a third option: the show may not follow the books so closely with respect to the fate of the Rats.
The Witcher Season 4 is in production for a 2025 release. Andrzej Sapkowski’s new Witcher book has a planned Winter 2024/2025 release with The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep anime set for a February 2025 release as well.
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