In Netflix’s The Witcher, Frances Pooley stars as Teryn, a half-elf girl looking like Ciri, who is magically brainwashed into believing that she is Ciri. Her character is present in The Witcher Seasons 3 and 4 and the importance of her character comes to light when Geralt rescues her and subsequently she is taken to Nilfgaard as a fake Ciri.One behind-the-scenes detail that came out recently was when showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich posted on Instagram that Pooley was at one point cast to play young Princess Pavetta in The Witcher Season 1. Pavetta, mother of Ciri, in the last version of the show, was portrayed by Gaia Mondadori.This was a shocking revelation to the fans, who had nearly given Pooley a prominent role in the history of the Witcher family prior to her breakout role as Teryn.Frances Pooley’s role in The Witcher as the false CiriThe Witcher Season 3 | Image via: Platige ImageFrances Pooley starred as a character named Teryn, who is only present in Netflix's The Witcher series. Her first appearance is towards the end of the third season, as Geralt discovers a bewildered, brainwashed girl who thinks that she is Ciri. The companions of Geralt later get to know her true identity: a half-elf, Teryn, who had been maliciously hexed and made to assume the memories and actions of Ciri.Due to this spell, Teryn acts and behaves rather similarly to Ciri, and that is why she is commonly known as False Ciri. In The Witcher Season 4, she is brought to the Cintran court, where the emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr, is duped into believing that she is his daughter. He even goes ahead to crown her without even realizing that real Ciri is traveling with the Rats.Teryn’s pretense collapses when Emhyr realizes that she does not possess the sword skills that Ciri did. This unveiling shows just how much she was exploited and manipulated. Frances Pooley adds a fine sorrowful touch to the plot, however, being a girl who truly thinks she is another.Lauren Hissrich’s Instagram reveal View this post on Instagram Instagram PostThe Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich just revealed in an Instagram post that Frances Pooley was cast as Princess Pavetta. The Witcher fans were surprised at what happened to Pavetta. She is an important character in the Witcher world. She is Queen Calanthe’s daughter. Moreover, she is also Ciri’s mother.Lauren Schmidt Hissrich in her Instagram post wrote:“Frances Pooley was originally considered in S1 for a different role: young Pavetta, who fell in love with hedgehog Duny against her mother Calanthe’s wishes. We eventually cast the incredible Gaia Mondadori in the role, but knew that Frances was special — that the Witcher needed her. We just had to wait for the right part to present itself.We found it in S3, a role in the books that’s simply called Fake Ciri. Frances brought such humanity to the character, and launched her on an unexpected arc of her own, finding her place when she’s pretending to be someone else — so much so, we had to give her a real name: Teryn.”In the last season, Pavetta is portrayed by Gaia Mondadori. The post from Hissrich indicated that Pooley was originally selected to feature in the large banquet scene in Season 1. In this scene, Pavetta falls in love with Duny, the knight who is cursed to appear like a hedgehog.In this scene, Pavetta also releases her magic, which breaks Duny’s curse and initiates a Law of Surprise story that leads to Ciri’s birth. Though the show never explained the casting change, Pooley later joined the series as Teryn instead. Fans were intrigued by the reveal because it means Pooley almost played a major character in The Witcher from the very beginning.What if Frances Pooley had played Pavetta?The Witcher fans had a fun burst of “what if” chatter when they found out Frances Pooley was originally cast as Pavetta. People are curious about how the hedgehog-knight iconic scene and her career in the show could have changed. Despite not featuring in Season 1, Pooley later made an impact as Teryn, the brainwashed false Ciri, the role that ultimately afforded her more space in the narrative.People noted that she could have been easily cast in the role of a young Pavetta. Interestingly she went in for the role of a lady who believes she is Ciri. Ultimately, the character switch up did not impact the show much. However, it did shape Pooley’s path, turning Teryn into her breakout role, and we ended up with a fun fact to share with fans.For more such insights on The Witcher, keep following SoapCentral.