The Witcher Season 3 Episode 2 Finally Debuts False Ciri

Pooley’s resume, though short, is composed entirely of critically-acclaimed and/or high-profile projects, like the British soap “Doctors,” Lucy Brydon’s BAFTA Award-nominated “Body of Water,” and Chris Van Dusen’s Emmy Awards darling, “Bridgerton.” But it is, undoubtedly, her break-out role in “Versailles” — Canal+’s spin on the Sun King’s infamous French court — that most closely parallels (and even foreshadows) her role in Hissrich’s adaptation. 

In “Versailles,” Pooley portrays the ill-fated Marie-Louise, Louis XIV’s (George Blagden) niece. Faithful to the real Marie-Louise’s story, the series sees the young noblewoman used to secure King Louis XIV’s relationship with Spain, and unhappily married off to the ailing King Charles II. Sadly, the Spanish hated their new French queen, a position that was not helped by the fact that, in their eyes, she was responsible for the inbred (and almost certainly impotent) king’s lack of an heir.

As her stepmother Princess Palatine (Jessica Clark) explains to her in Season 3, Episode 6, “Women are just pawns in a game played by men.” This is certainly the case for the ill-fated Teryn, and for Sapkowski’s False Ciri as well. Like Marie-Louise, False Ciri is a noble whose life takes a drastic turn when she falls victim to the politics and power plays of men with little regard for her health and well-being. Louis XIV may not be the villain that Vilgefortz is, but it’s hard not to see Pooley’s role as reminiscent of the performance that launched the up-and-coming actor’s career. 

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