Star Rising

Currently starring in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan broke through playing a princess in TV series The Witcher. But this 22-year-old has her feet firmly on the ground as she sets her sights on the future

- ANNA SMITH

As a teenager, Freya Allan set a firm goal for her early twenties.

“I wanted to be in a film that was in the cinema.” Lo and behold, this is happening — like everything she sets out to do, it seems. The determined 22-year-old actress is starring in the new blockbuster Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, as a human in a world dominated by apes. This, off the back of roles in films Baghead and Gunpowder Milkshake, the TV series The Third Day and, of course, her portrayal of princess Ciri in the hit TV series The Witcher. 

If Allan is on the cusp of even bigger things, she comes across as self-aware, sensible and cautious about letting it go to her head. “They’re just getting swept up in it all and not realising that their ego is flying through the roof,” she says of actors who get distracted by the fame game. “That’s my worst nightmare.” Her friends and family keep her grounded, she says, when we dig into her life story over a hot chocolate in Soho. It’s March 2024, and she remarks that this is one of her first in-person interviews, rather than an online one. It strikes me that most of her adult acting life has coincided with either a pandemic or the actors’ strikes. I’m curious to know what came before that.