‘I’ve tried to separate myself from this job’: The Witcher’s Anya Chalotra on fan abuse, Henry Cavill, and saying goodbye to the show | Fantasy TV

IIt’s a bittersweet day for Anya Chalotra. On the other hand, The Witcher, the fantasy saga in which you’ve played the supernatural witch Yennefer of Vengerberg since 2018, is about to return for a fourth series. All the hard work she and hundreds of others have put in can be seen by millions of fans around the world. The closing party for the cast and crew is scheduled to take place a few hours after our conversation. It’s an exciting time for the actor. But on the other hand: “I finished The Witcher Forever yesterday,” Chalotra says. “So forgive me if I can’t string a sentence together. It’s all very strange…I cried a lot.”

Interestingly for a big-budget fantasy show, The Witcher will be pulling the plug after its story is complete, rather than at an unsatisfying midpoint due to unceremonious cancellation. And although viewers will see one final season of monsters, magic, wizards, swords, trickery and curses next year, the final two seasons were filmed back to back, after the evening party, that’s all. The mission that had dominated Chalotra’s life for so long, and the people who accompanied her (along with the absence of one high-profile one, which we’ll get to later), was finally over.

“I was 23 when I started,” says Chalotra, now 30. “It’s been a long time. I think the most emotional I’ve ever felt was when I was sitting there yesterday watching everyone working. Just in my chair, drinking a cup of tea. You know these people… everyone’s working.” Very difficult On offer. Eight months of the year for seven years. “I will miss everyone’s faces.”

It has been a long journey for the actor and the character. The Witcher began as a series of short stories and novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski about a monster hunter hired by Geralt of Rivia, which later became a successful video game franchise before Netflix brought Sapkowski’s world to television. Chalotra’s character begins the tale as a 14-year-old peasant girl, abused by her parents for physical deformities, who eventually becomes the ass-kicking witch, military leader and love of Geralt’s life that we know today. When Chalotra was cast, she thought it was important to do her research, play games and engage with the books, of which she remains a fan: “When I was returning to the books this season, there were some things… distinct Lines. some amazing quotes. It is based on imagination. She transferred that fortitude to the way she played Yennefer, making the burning of thousands of soldiers to a blazing heat with horrific bursts of flame or the quiet sadness of knowing she was unable to bear children equally believable. It’s a fine balance, not easy to achieve.

Chalotra was born in Wolverhampton, her father from India and her mother from the Midlands (the mention of which prompts a shout of “Midlands! Yaaaay!”). “I was a middle child,” she laughs, considering why she thinks she became an actress. “You don’t need to say more!” But she points to her mixed heritage as a big element in her desire to perform: “I watched a lot of Bollywood films as a child. I loved musicals, films, and seeing very different experiences of people on stage, and on screen. Because I only had my own experience, coming from a very strict upbringing. So I was curious about other people’s lives. I wanted to know more about why someone was the way they were, and their culture. I was deeply influenced by for me culture. And I think I was just interested in how people are created.

The desire to use acting to find out what made her and the people around her lead Chalotra to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and then to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. “There was nothing else that came to my mind that I wanted to do,” she says. “I didn’t think it was possible until I was about 17 when I joined the team and realized my family would support me. And going to London from Wolverhampton. That was a big transition.”

This commitment quickly paid off. Shortly after graduating, she was nominated for a Stage Debut Award in the Globe’s production of Much Ado About Nothing in 2017, then in 2018 she starred with Toni Collette in BBC’s Wanderlust, and John Malkovich and Shirley Henderson in the Agatha Christie film adaptation The ABC Murders. “Shirley Henderson, Toni Collette, and John Malkovich,” she lists. “That’s all—I’m happy. I was so curious, I almost didn’t want to do any work. They a job In front of you. You are so close. “I just wanted to watch them.”

Shortly thereafter, Chalotra was cast in The Witcher, and everything changed. It was her first taste of the intensity of geek culture, for better and for worse. The third Witcher game, considered one of the greatest games of all time, has sold over 60 million copies worldwide; Books crossed 15 million by the time Chalotra took over the role. The first season of the series in 2019 broke Netflix records as the most-watched debut series of all time up to that point. That’s some passionate fanbase. “I was pushed into this,” says Chalotra. “Baptism of fire. Daunting, but very exciting.” Sadly, as is the case with many women from ethnic minority backgrounds who have been involved in popular franchises, a small but vocal corner of the internet protested her participation on the grounds that it dared not match the exact image of the character that each individual fan carried in their heads. “I don’t use social media. I’ve stopped,” says Chalotra. “I haven’t done it in a long time. The first season for me… there was a lot of negativity. A lot of positive too, but obviously negative… This was one of my first jobs. It really affected me. I learned very quickly that everything can be very intense.”

Filming for eight months a year for seven years was also extensive, although the bulk of it took place at Longcross Studios in the UK. “We try to travel as much as we can,” she says, but easily, at least for budgetary reasons, the areas around the studio have “a lot of green,” and when a different kind of green is called for, they do “a fair amount of filming in Wales.” This at least allowed Chalotra, who lives in London, to maintain some semblance of a normal life outside of work. “But even when you’re filming here, you don’t get a lot of downtime,” she says. “And so, those moments, when you get off the set and go home, you want to keep them for yourself anyway. I come home and I eat something and I take a shower, like I’m washing Yennefer. Eight months is a very long year to be in a character’s headspace. You go in the next day and do the same thing. I had to learn a lot of tools to try to separate myself from that job. I found that really difficult, and I still do.”

For these final two seasons, there was also the added complication of the departure of Geralt’s ex, Henry Cavill, after the third season due to time constraints in filming and different ideas on how to portray his character from those of the producers. In his place is the gruff Liam Hemsworth, who brings a new vulnerability to the baritone that does the character no harm at all. When Cavill left, did Chalotra think that might be the end of the show? Another fantasy epic left half-finished in a pile of cancellations?

“No, actually,” she says. “I think I always knew we would all carry on. With our love of the material, we knew it would carry on again. I was excited to see where Yennefer went, that’s for sure.” The cast and crew were also keen to make Hemsworth feel welcome – with Chalotra insisting that no disturbing rituals or misdirection occurred for the new boy. “We didn’t want to be too edgy,” she laughs. “We just wanted to make room for Liam. He understands people. He understands this world. He was able to come in very naturally. It was really easy.” (Hemsworth himself kindly described this experience as “changing schools mid-year.”)

For one more day, at least, Chalotra seems happy to still be in the Witcher World. She describes the day before filming, and how when casting spells, even seven years later, she still says “Whoosh!” and “Fzzzzzzzzzzt!” Making sounds when performing hand movements. “You have to do it, right?! Someone always says: ‘Anya, now can we take a shot without the sound effects?’ Well, I’ll try!”

She’s keeping tight-lipped about her upcoming projects, saying that “the next phase of my life is about rewilding”, although she is set to star alongside Euphoria’s Ralph Ineson and Chloe Cherry in the dark thriller Two Neighbours, which screened at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival. She’s also about to move straight into a “short period of filming”, though she insists that “that doesn’t mean I won’t grieve for Yennefer. We’re all very connected to those seven years. I think we’ll be trying to draw out this experience for a long time. What will always be constant is how much we love and respect the people who were next to us doing it.”

However, it is time to get rid of the juggernaut, and Chalotra is thinking about it. “This character is inside me and I let it go. So it’s not sad at all, it’s a new beginning.”

But first, there’s the little matter of the wrapping party. You can’t help but think she deserves it.

The first episode of The Witcher season 4 premieres on Netflix starting October 30.