The cast and crew of The Witcher are still working hard to finish Season 2 of the Netflix hit, even with an additional pause in production slowing progress for a bit. But, just as with the extended break the show dealt with earlier in the year, it sounds like casting for new characters has rolled right along. A couple of weeks ago, we got word that a mysterious character from the books might be making an appearance in the upcoming season, and now it sounds like a fan favorite from the novels, Queen Meve, may show up several times, as well.
According to a report from Redanian Intelligence, The Witcher has now cast actress Rebecca Hanssen as the powerful Queen Meve of Lyria and Rivia for Season 2. We're not completely sure right now how many episodes Hanssen will show up in, but she's said to be working with directors Sarah O’Gorman and Ed Bazalgette, and they appear to be in charge of helming Episodes 3 and 4, and Episodes 5 and 8, respectively, so it's possible we could see Queen Meve quite a bit.
In The Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, Queen Meve rules both Lyria and Rivia after the death of her husband, and is praised for her wisdom, beauty and ability to lead her troops to victory, despite having had no formal training in running a war prior to her time as ruler. Book fans will know that she easily stole the limelight every time she showed up on the page, and had a deft hand at putting others in their place whenever necessary. Meve is also a distant cousin to both Queen Calanthe and King Foltest, and had been able to maintain a friendship with Foltest over the years.
Of course, because of Meve being distantly related to Calanthe, it means that she's also related to Ciri. Meve had at least one major interaction with Geralt in the books, and had also tried to keep Ciri from harm after the fall of Cintra, so it's possible that either of these storylines will be adapted for use in Season 2.
Rebecca Hanssen is probably an unknown name to many fans of The Witcher at this point, but she has been making the rounds for several years, after getting her start in the 2012 short Innocent Violation. Most recently, Hanssen has appeared in projects such as Tell It to the Bees, Lore, and the 2018 version of A Christmas Carol, while she's currently working on a role in the upcoming video game Baldur's Gate III.
The casting department of The Witcher has certainly not let fans down so far, so here's hoping that, if Queen Meve really is coming to the new season, Hanssen is ready to bring all her regal badassery to the small screen. The only thing about the potential casting that may give book fans some pause, is that, by the time we meet Meve in the novels, she's already old enough to have two grown sons, and Hanssen is still a bit too young to play that in the show. But, we know that The Witcher has been known to futz with time a bit, so we might only see Hanssen's Queen Meve in flashbacks (which will, hopefully, be clearly marked as such).
We'll see what The Witcher Season 2 has in store for Queen Meve at some point, likely next year, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest!
