The Witcher S3: Who Plays Falka & What Is Their Blood Origin Link?

Contains spoilers for "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 8 — "The Cost of Chaos" 

Season 3, Episode 7 of "The Witcher" sees Princess Cirilla of Cintra (Freya Allan) experience a brutal solo adventure in the desert where she suffers from frequent hallucinations. During this time of unending, oppressive heat and salivating, carnivorous worm creatures, Ciri encounters some version of Falka (Hiftu Quasem), the estranged, rebel daughter of a Redanian king. In Netflix's adaptation of "The Witcher," Falka is Ciri's ancestor, so her appearance is not as random as it might seem.

Falka's bloody tale is worth further discussion, but the more interesting thing about her appearance in Season 3, Episode 7 is that this is her on-screen talent's second appearance in Netflix's "The Witcher" franchise, even if it is seemingly her first appearance as the warrior princess. Quasem, a young Bengali Scottish actor whose résumé includes radio production, stage work, and short films, is comparatively new to the business, but she is currently starring on the ongoing Amazon Prime UK original series "Ten Percent" alongside Jack Davenport of "Pirates of the Caribbean" fame.

On "The Witcher: Blood Origin," a miniseries that serves as a prequel to "The Witcher," Quasem voices an unnamed, unseen being credited as Light whose power shapes the events that occur. Fans of "Blood Origin" will best remember her as the celestial blue aura that speaks to Balor (Lenny Henry) and offers him access to Chaos in exchange for a sacrifice. Since these shows are directly connected, is it possible that Quasem's "Blood Origin" role is secretly Falka too? And if so, would that connection explain how Falka manages to appear to Ciri all those years after?

The difficulty with connecting Hiftu Quasem's seemingly disparate roles across the two "Witcher" properties is that only one of them appears in the source material written by Andrzej Sapkowski. The Light and most of "The Witcher: Blood Origin" are entirely fabricated for Netflix's adaptation of Sapkowski's work. But if we compare what we know about Netflix's story to Sapkwoski's story, then it becomes immediately clear that, unless Falka is a reincarnation of the celestial voice, Quasem's two "Witcher" roles are wholly unrelated. On "Blood Origin," the kingdom of Redania has yet to be founded. Falka, on the other hand, is the daughter of a Redanian king. Simply put, the math ain't mathin'.

Rather, it's far more likely that the creative team behind "The Witcher" just enjoys working with Quasem. Maybe she's got an incredible work ethic, or maybe she's a genuinely good person. It makes more sense than trying to connect the nonexistent dots between the Light on "Blood Origin" and Falka on "The Witcher." Besides, she wouldn't be the first actor who played multiple roles on the same TV show. Even blockbuster franchises are recycling their talents. In recent memory alone, Linda Cardellini returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Lylla, a new voice role, in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" after appearing in multiple MCU projects as Laura Barton, an on-screen role.

For now, though, having two roles in the same story seems to be the generally agreed-upon limit. And considering Netflix's decision to link Ciri and Falka together, it's possible that she will stick around for quite some time, especially since Ciri is now using her name as an alias, which is a connection pulled directly from the source material.