Ever since The Witcher had its incredibly successful debut on Netflix, there's been one fan theory after another. But believe it or not, there is one fan theory that the series’ showrunner, Lauren Hissrich, actually likes. For context, do you remember when Cahir fought a doppler, who disguised itself as Ciri, back in Episode 6? Well, there's an intriguing theory going around about the fight and its outcome.
The fan theory asserts that Cahir actually lost the fight to doppler, who went on to assume Cahir’s identity, meaning the real Cahir is not who ran away. The Witcher’s showrunner weighed in on the fan theory with a glowing review. But could this fan theory just based on a production mistake like the one about Jaskier never aging, and therefore being of the magical realm? Here's what Lauren Hissrich told TV Guide:
Ooh, that's interesting. I want to keep that one in my back pocket for a while. It is a fun idea. It is. That's one of those scenes that in the editing room, we were like, how are we going to tell the difference between the doppler and Cahir? And at the end, you really don't care. You know, like they're fighting, they're just two men scrapping. Because we had, like, put a cut on one's cheek or one always has this. But the idea is, when one of them races out, you want to hang in and go like, 'I don't know which one just ran away.' So I like that one.
So the doppler didn't replace Cahir after all? It's honestly tough to tell which conclusion to take from Lauren Hissrich’s answer regarding this particular Witcher fan theory. Does she know if it's true or not, as is the case with the writers knowing Geralt’s third wish? Given that Hissrich doesn't explicitly shoot it down, it's hard to say whether or not it's time for fans to head back to the drawing board.
Hissrich does, however, indicate that she wants to leave the possibility open for a while longer. Fair enough. The Witcher’s showrunner (who is planning massive changes for Season 2) adds that production could have cleared up the mystery. She revealed that the team originally planned on adding a scratch to one of the characters' faces to confirm who ended up running away.
So it seems The Witcher may have wanted to leave an air of mystery for this particular scene. Fans of the Netflix series will just have to wait and see if anything becomes of the moment, or if it's just dropped as a plot thread altogether. Cahir not being Cahir would be a pretty seismic twist, though, and would definitely be something interesting to explore in Season 2 or beyond.
In case you somehow missed it, The Witcher is back filming Season 2 and taking every COVID-19 precaution imaginable as it proceeds with production. Until next season arrives, you can stream The Witcher Season 1 on Netflix along with a ton of new 2020 content. Season 2 should premiere well after this fall’s premieres. Hopefully, that date will arrive sometime in 2021.
