Jaskier may soon have another hero to sing earworm-y praises about as The Witcher creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich teases Ciri’s upcoming arc.

On Thursday Schmidt Hissrich joined the leadings ladies of the Netflix fantasy series Freya Allen and Anya Chalotra for a TCA panel to discuss the long-awaited sophomore season, which will debut on December 17. The Witcher Season 2 will follow Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia who, convinced that Yennefer (Chalotra) died at the gruesome Battle of Sodden, seeks to bring Princess Cirilla (Allen) to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continent’s kings, elves, humans and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, Geralt must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.

“Part of the journey between Ciri and Geralt, this season is also one that involves training to be a Witcher,” Schmidt Hissrich shared. “Freya would send me videos of herself learning to sword fight, before we started
 production in season two and the stunt team was amazed because she’s just a natural. You’re so fearless on this show both in your emotional performance but also in the physical one.”

Ciri’s upcoming Witcher-in-training arc adds to the show’s group of fearless women, including Chalotra’s Yennefer, who used her mystical abilities to challenge power structures and bring the Battle of Sodden to an end. Brave and strong women characters can often be a rarity in fantasy titles, but for The Witcher such characters are just part of the world, Allen said.

“It’s just something that
 we’re given. We’ve received the scripts, and then our characters have this incredible arc, and that’s ultimately about women [having] just as much of a story. We’re not there just to aid Henry’s storyline,” she said. “We’re all connected and we all have an impact like our characters will have an impact on on each other.”

Beyond Yennefer and Ciri’s powers, The Witcher Season 2 will also center the leading women’s vulnerabilities including their “biggest fears,” moving away from the strong woman trope Chalotra said. Agreeing with her co-star, Allen said that the upcoming chapter will represent their characters as “real females.”

“They might be weak at times. It’s not all about always being courageous or or morally right, but it’s about representing real females,whatever they’re going through,” she said. “There’s moments where you question what your character is doing. And that’s what real humans are.”

The Witcher is and executive produced by Schmidt Hissrich. Tomek Baginski, Jason F. Brown, Sean Daniel, Mike Ostrowski, Steve Gaub and Jarosław Sawko also executive produce.