The Witcher's Yennefer Casting Was Intended to 'Challenge' Beauty Standards
Casting director Sophie Holland says Anya Chalotra's casting as Yennefer of Vengerberg in Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher was intended to "challenge" beauty standards. https://t.co/HcBDe914Jw pic.twitter.com/ohenoeUL0b
- Comic Book Resources (@CBR) July 25, 2023
The Witcher casting director Sophia Holland discussed pushing for Anya Chalotra to land the Yennefer role in the Netflix fantasy series in an interview with Variety. "Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is the showrunner [on The Witcher] and we work so well together and she's so open to conversations," she said. "In the book, [Yennefer's] described as the most beautiful woman in the world. This was a few years ago and I'd like to think things have changed. But when you think about people's unconscious bias -- especially in the fantasy world, it felt like these worlds were predominantly white. And I remember saying, 'I feel like we need to challenge what people think of as the standard of beauty. And having a woman of color in this role does incredibly powerful things to the people watching.'"