With its fantasy adaptation The Witcher, Netflix once again claimed its top spot in the streaming business from HBO and the legendary Game Of Thrones.
While the second season of The Witcher announced long before the first was even out, the ongoing pandemic and production shutdown have delayed the release of the season. Not to worry, the show’s creators are thinking ahead and coming out with ways to keep their fanbase engaged till the next season can come out.
Here’s everything we know.
When’s it out, approximately?
Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich first announced the return of the show and key characters on 13th November 2019, over a month before the launch of season one. The show’s production began by February 2020 before it was shut down due to the pandemic.
The showrunner did not blame it all on the pandemic and said that a good cushion of time between the two seasons is crucial. So we cannot expect it to arrive before 2021.
“The truth is, [The Witcher] is an enormous show and it takes a long time and we realized that in Season 1 we were smashing down a lot of the post-production process,” Hissrich told IGN recently.
“And we want to make sure that everyone on our team gets the time to do their job and do it to the best of their ability. So we’re making sure we have a lot of built-in cushion time for Season 2 so we don’t cram anything in at the last minute.”
Hissrich further added that even though the scripts take a full 20 weeks to be written, there are still over a hundred rewrites done along with the production.
Even before the coronavirus delay came into the picture, season two of The Witcher was set to air by the summer of 2021. But now, we are estimating a release in the holiday season, sometime before Christmas.
The latest news is that UK studio where the filming of the show was ongoing, could be reopening soon. Fans may recall that the Arborfield Studios was one of the first studios to shut down after The Witcher season two star, Kristofer Hivju, tested positive for coronavirus.
Old and new cast members for next part
While Netflix is yet to confirm the cast for the sequel to one of its biggest shows till date, we can speculate nearly all the characters from season one to come back.
Henry Cavill will be back as Geralt of Rivia, alongside Freya Allan as Ciri and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer.
It also looks like Joey Batey, MyAnna Buring, Lars Mikkelson, Eamon Farren, Tom Canton, Lilly Cooper, Jeremy Crawford, Eamon Farren, Mahesh Jadu, Terence Maynard,
Mimi Ndiweni, Therica Wilson Read, Royce Pierreson, Wilson Radjou-Pujalte, and Anna Shaffer will return too.
There are a few new cast members for season two, including Yasen Atour (Young Wallander) as Coen, Agnes Bjorn (Monster) as Vereena, Paul Bullion (Peaky Blinders) as Lambert, Thue Ersted Rasmussen (Fast and Furious 9) as Eskel, Aisha Fabienne Ross (The Danish Girl) as Lydia, Game of Throne’s Kristofer Hivju as Nivellen, and newcomer Mecia Simson, who will play Francesca.
They will be joining Kristofer Hivju, best known as Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones, and Kim Bodnia in the new season of The Witcher.
Because of The Witcher’s different timelines, we could see characters who were killed in season one as part of the flashbacks in season two.
What’s new in Witcher 2?
In the absence of an official synopsis, not to be expected before 2021, all we have are already-known facts and speculations.
The first season is based on Sapkowski’s The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny collections of short stories (but not all of them), and showrunner Hissrich has confirmed that the next series will incorporate unused parts of those stories with first “Witcher saga” novel Blood of Elves.
According to Hissrich expanded season two will build up on the stories of characters only introduced in season one.
“What I would say is that season one is… about constructing the world, and setting up these characters, and putting them on paths, and knocking those dominoes over. When you get to season two, all of those things start to come to play, which is that characters start meeting each other – sometimes getting along, sometimes not.”
Hissrich further added, “All those things that we set up – Geralt and Yennefer, Geralt and Ciri, Yennefer and Ciri – all of the different kingdoms that you just barely hear about in season one, start rising to the surface in season two.”
At the end of season one, we saw Ciri and Geralt meet for the first time, amidst the chaos around. We know that they will meet up with Yennefer, but not sure of when.
Then there is Nilfgaard which remains stuck in a major power struggle and has the apathy of many mages behind them. We will likely see how many of the Northern Kingdoms will fight against the Nilfgaardians in the next season.
We also know that The Witcher season two, will span across different timelines and delve deeper into why monsters and witchers are going extinct.
How long before a glimpse?
From the looks of it, fans shouldn’t expect a teaser or a trailer of the second season anytime before 2021. But as they wait there are other ways to fulfil the craving for more of The Witcher.
Alternative Witcher entertainment
Hissrich earlier announced that the show’s actors and producers take part in a podcast, talking about the first season and its making. It is available on Netflix.
Meanwhile, Netflix has also announced plans to develop an animated Witcher film for the show’s fans to feed off till season two.
According to Euroganed, it’s a prequel, titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and this is what we can expect: “Long before mentoring Geralt, Vesemir begins his own journey as a witcher after the mysterious Deglan claims him through the Law of Surprise.”
Source: Netflix Life, Radio Times, Digital Spy
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