One Witcher Season 3 Scene Was Even Sadder For MyAnna Buring Than Tissaia's Death
"The Witcher" star MyAnna Buring was prepared for her character to die from day one. "I'd known that this would happen in season three from the very, very beginning," the actress told Insider in the wake of the Netflix show's heartbreaking third season conclusion. After all, the Aretuza headmistress and mother figure to Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) dies tragically near the end of Andrzej Sapkowski's "Time of Contempt," the book whose climax the adaptation has been hurling towards for some time now.
"Season one, I was very clear what would happen in season three, so I think when I first read the scene, I was quite pragmatic about it," Buring told the outlet. "I was like, 'Okay, that's the scene. That's how they've chosen to do it. Great. I understand. That's lovely.'" The scene in question is certainly more heartbreaking than its literary counterpart, given the warmth with which Buring has imbued the stern character for three seasons and the strong bond we've seen her form with Yen. But the actress says it wasn't actually her death sequence that was tough to shoot, but the emotional goodbye that came before, when she read a letter aloud in voiceover that Yennefer would receive after her death.
Reading the letter was the hardest part
This makes total sense, as Tissaia's actual death scene is understated, presented in near-silence while the character is alone. Elsewhere, though, Yen senses her mentor's distress and feels an echo of the literal pain of her suicide, all while audiences get to hear the contents of the last letter Tissaia ever wrote. "It was the scene beforehand that I found really emotional," Buring noted. "I had to read the letter that I write to Yennefer, and I sort of read it over and over again." The scene required getting into the mindset of Tissaia as she shares her last thoughts with Yen, contemplating the "cost of chaos."
"And so, in my mind, that was playing over and over again while we were shooting the scene. And, suddenly, that's when I went, 'Oh God, that stings,'" Buring recalled. In the letter, Tissaia is more vulnerable and forthright than she ever has been in life, when tasked with keeping an authoritarian air in a world run by men who look down upon her. But in death, she can be open about the love she had for Yen. "Teaching you has been the biggest bright spot of my life," Tissaia writes, adding, "I know you will do great things, my daughter." According to the actor, it was that scene more than her character's actual death (or, presumably, Yen's attempt to give her a pep talk moments before it) that truly got to her.
Yennefer, alone
Thankfully, though, Buring didn't have too much time to dwell on the heartbreaking letter before a post-wrap celebration kicked in. "I remember when I wrapped, going off set, and that's when it hit me. I think I bawled quite a lot," she told Insider. "But then, all the Aretuza gang were in the makeup room, so I think we celebrated with bubbly and joy and laughter and dancing as we always did."
Chalotra, too, says she felt the loss without Buring there anymore. "MyAnna means so much to me. She was there day one," she told Vulture in a post-finale interview. She described the actress in a way that sounds not unlike the maternal figure she turns out to be in the show — only without any of the iciness. "She looked after me in season one, and has through the seasons — not only me, but everyone on set," Chalotra shared. "She gives so much. That loss is huge for the show and huge for Yennefer." To add salt to the wound, the next book in "The Witcher" series goes full Josie-in-the-doorknob with Yennefer, isolating her more than ever with an odd, sidelining plot twist. Chaltora has already made it clear that she hopes the TV adaptation scraps that storyline, so that's one less psychic wound for Yen to contend with when the show returns.
We'll see how Yennefer fairs without her beloved teacher when "The Witcher" returns for season 4. The next season doesn't currently have a release date, but you can catch seasons 1 through 3 on Netflix now.