The Witcher 3 Made Fans Question Freya Allan's Acting Skills
The actress looks bland in some scenes, but is it really her fault?
Freya Allan is a young British actress largely known for her portrayal of Princess Ciri on Netflix's adaptation of Adrzej Sapkowski's book cycle The Witcher. As soon as the show premiered in 2019, it proved to be a success, and viewers praised the cast for their excellent performance in the first two seasons.
Henry Cavill has been amazing in his truthful portrayal of Geralt, and many fans are now devastated about his departure from the project after the current third season.
In her turn, Freya Allan also looked great in her role as Ciri in The Witcher's previous two installments. However, the new season, which released its first five episodes on June 29, has raised the question of whether her acting is actually good enough for the iconic story.
Many viewers point out that the actress looks too stiff in some action scenes where she's supposed to be at the peak of emotion — like when she and Cavill's Geralt fight monsters, for instance. But at the same time, some fans tend to avoid putting the blame exclusively on the actress, arguing that the poor-quality writing and directing caused inexperienced Freya to misperform.
'I don't think she's that awful, but she's not great either. She does have moments where she's very stiff and unconvincing. Potential and charisma [are] definitely there… but her lack of acting experience really shows compared to other main actors,' a fan said on Reddit. 'I think a lot of the negative you see is not just her fault but down to bad script and direction too. It's just that more experienced actors will mask that and improvise better.'
Of course, good writing and direction are at the core of any production, and if these two aspects are lacking, even a powerhouse performer like Meryl Streep wouldn't be able to save the project. So it looks like Freya Allan is doing her best on The Witcher, against all odds.
'Script-writing I think is where it's really going wrong. Her character is so inconsistent. I think most would have a hard time acting it unless they fought back against the direction,' another Redditor commented. 'When she's doing character interactions, there's some really great scenes like her time with Jaskier.'
Hopefully, Allan's acting will get better and more convincing in the remaining three episodes of The Witcher Season 3, set for release on July 27.
Source: Reddit.