Just last week, it was announced that Man of Steel actor Henry Cavill would dawn the mantle of Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s upcoming ‘The Witcher’ series. The reception was for the most part positive, likely due in no small part to the actor’s love of the source material by Andrzej Sapkowski. Now, Netflix has put out a casting call for Ciri, another major character from the book series that made her big debut in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Unfortunately, the contents of the recently released casting call for the character has caused series’ showrunner Lauren Hissrich to announce her temporary departure from Twitter, following the massive amount of backlash leveled against both her and Netflix.

It's time for a Twitter hiatus. The love here is amazing, and the hate is enlightening, like a real-life Trial of the Grasses, except I HAVE to read less and write more — or we won't have a damn finale. Be back soon with more insight and more Roach. Be nice to each other, okay?

— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) September 10, 2018

The casting call for Ciri was released just a few days ago, wherein it called for a BAME individual, or a “Black, Asian, or other non-white minority ethnic.” Here’s the ad in its entirety:

“CIRI can often be found rough-housing with the Palace hands instead of sitting in finery at the knee of the QUEEN CALANTHE, her grandmother. That is, until Cintra is massacred by the Nilfgaardians and CIRI is orphaned, left to traverse THE CONTINENT, alone. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s a direct descendent of LARA DORREN, an Elven Mage – which is why everyone in our series is after her. We follow CIRI as she evades her captors, and in the meantime, discovers her magical talents, her dark side, and the role she is to play in the coming apocalypse. We are looking for an extraordinary young talent to lead this series. She should be brave-hearted and MUST have something truly special about her.”

The ad itself sums up Ciri quite perfectly, though the fact that Netflix is seeking a BAME individual for the role is what is getting the internet up in a tizzy. It should be noted that, while Ciri is canonically white, the writer of the original novels is aboard the creative team, which means that he gave the okay to seek out a BAME individual for Ciri. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped people from expressing their distaste in a potentially non-white Ciri.

Netflix reportedly looking for an Asian girl <18 to play Ciri. Wasn't aware that major characters of Polish folklore were Asian. I went along with the complaints of whitewashing in other media, this should be no different. #Witcher #netflix

— Samwise (@Samwise47) September 8, 2018

As an Asian and a person who values diversity in all facets of life, I will lose my mind if the person casted as Ciri is not a white actress. #witcher #netflix

— JJ (@justinyoo13) September 8, 2018

On the flip-side of this, there are fans that have voiced their approval of Netflix’s casting decisions, despite the deviation from the source material:

https://twitter.com/Benepotentia/status/1038657541318893568

https://twitter.com/why_hime/status/1038410748958007298

Whichever side of the matter you fall on, please keep in mind that while politely voicing your opinions is absolutely fine, it is never okay to harass any cast or crew members working on the series. They deserve better.

The Witcher series will debut at some point in the future, exclusively on Netflix.

So, thoughts on Netflix’s casting call for Ciri? Do you agree or disagree with the decision? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!