The Witcher S3: Who Plays Prince Radovid & How Is He Different From The Games?
Contains spoilers for "The Witcher" Season 3, Episode 1 — "Shaerrawedd"
"The Witcher" Season 3 introduces the viewers to a brand new cavalcade of characters, some of whom are familiar from the games while others are more obscure. The Redanian Prince Radovid is a far more complicated case. Played by Hugh Skinner (best known for his role as Harry in "Fleabag"), the long-haired character seems to be a royal fop of the highest order, so Sigismund Dijkstra (Graham McTavish) and Philippa Eilhart (Cassie Clare) are understandably less than delighted when King Vizimir (Ed Birch) appoints Radovid as the new head of Redanian Intelligence.
Of course, people who are familiar with CD Projekt Red's "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings" and "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" might suspect that the carefree prince has plenty more depth than meets the eye. After all, the game's take on Radovid is a far less hirsute, but infinitely more cunning character — who, as it happens, is a king in his own right. Ruling as Radovid V the Stern, the game version is a harsh and fearsome ruler who's dangerous, intelligent, and heavily implied to be dealing with severe mental health issues. What's more, his relationship with King Vizimir is very different than it seems to be in the Netflix show.
Radovid has gone from Vizimir's son to the king's brother
The show's Radovid seems to be younger than King Radovid is in "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings," and he's definitely far more regal-looking than the bald-headed, eternally frowning video game version. This is actually a bit ironic, seeing as the Netflix Radovid has been aged up considerably, and is well below the game version in the royal pecking order. In the game, you see, Radovid is Vizimir's son. However, the show has eschewed the generational aspect of the pair's familial relationship and turned Radovid into the Redanian king's brother instead.
Because of this, what we're seeing here seems to be an early version of Radovid who's yet to descend into his paranoid schemes, and unless he's been reimagined beyond the point of recognition, there's a reason to suspect that the good prince has a pretty big and worrying arc ahead of him. What's more, Dijkstra and Philippa might be about to find out that Radovid isn't half as clueless as his initial appearance makes him seem.