The Witcher S3: Who Plays Rience And Why Wasn't He In The Games?

Contains spoilers for "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1

In "The Witcher" Season 3, many of the show's colorful and often suspicious recurring characters continue to recur. One of the most threatening and visually captivating folks to make a comeback in the season's first episode is Rience, the fire mage Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross) recruits to capture Ciri (Freya Allan) in Season 2. Rience's original actor was Chris Fulton, but in Season 3, there's a new guy behind the burn prosthetics: Sam Woolf, who's known for his portrayal of Prince Edward in "The Crown" Season 5. 

Given the general moral greyness of "The Witcher" characters, it can sometimes be difficult to tell who's the villain and who's the hero, so the smarmy, ruthless Rience is a welcome force of open hostility. His flame-themed powers and sadistic tendencies make him a threatening enemy for anyone. Thanks to the highly visual nature of the fire mage's powers and his compelling character design, fans of "The Witcher" might find themselves asking why the red-hot magic user hasn't made an appearance in any of the video games — a medium the villain would clearly be a great fit for. The reason for this lies in the unfortunate passage of time, as certain events in the grander "The Witcher" story and timeline mean that Rience simply couldn't be around in any of the games. 

Spoiler warning: discussion of Rience's story in "The Witcher" novels follow, so if you're not familiar with the character's ultimate fate, proceed with caution.

Based on the hits Rience has taken during his time in the show, it's not exactly shocking that he dies in the books ... in the year 1267, to be precise. Essentially, this disqualifies him from appearing in the games, since the events of CD Projekt Red's first "The Witcher" video game begin in 1270, and certain clues hint that it could take place even later.

That's not to say CD Projekt Red didn't recognize Rience's potential as a video game villain, though. In "Biały Wilk: Historia komputerowego Wiedźmina" – a documentary on "The Witcher" video game's history — the people behind the games reveal that a version of the fire mage was very much on the cards as an antagonist in "The Witcher," but the game's constantly ballooning storyline eventually led to the game fans know, and its equally Rience-free sequels. 

Now that Rience has made his presence known in the Netflix series, who knows if he'll make an appearance in some future "The Witcher"-themed game. However, right now, the character only exists in the Netflix show and Andrzej Sapkowski's stories.