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However, it was the script (written by producer and showrunner, Lauren

Schmidt Hissrich) that became her Bible. “I would read it every day, again

and again. It allowed me to become more familiar with the way Yennefer

would think, breathe and respond to the relationships she had with

different characters.”

Since its inception, the eight-part literary saga, which was written in the

’90s and later developed into an iconic video-game franchise, has garnered

an unfathomable following. When Chalotra walked into the audition room,

however, she knew nothing about monster slayers or Yennefer’s legacy. “I

walked into this blindly,” she admits with compelling honesty. “And I think

that helped me, because had I known of Yennefer being such an iconic

character and having a huge fan base, I would’ve overthought every choice I

made in that audition room.” Instead, Chalotra allowed her intuition to

direct her interpretation of Yennefer, which is probably one of the reasons

why, she believes, she got the part. “Every time I auditioned (three times), I

became hungrier for the role.”

It’s safe to say that The Witcher novels were originally written with white

characters in mind. The selection of Chalotra then, who is an actor of colour

and far younger than the fictional Yennefer, didn’t sit too well with the

massive, yet doggedly conservative literary fandom. She faced ridicule.

Many labelled her as a mere ingénue, incapable of taking on the plum job of

portraying a highly complex, fascinating character.

“When I got the part, the fans got a hold of the news pretty quickly,” she

recalls. “I started getting a lot of attention, which was both negative and

positive.” So, she shut down her social media accounts. “I wanted my

journey to be very different. I wanted to allow the character to evolve