By Now in its third week of location filming in Northern England, The Witcher season two is bracing for a big scene at Fountains Abbey, where series-star Henry Cavill and others are expected to shoot a pivotal sequence from the books tomorrow. At the same time, a second unit got up early to capture another of North Yorkshire’s stunning locations at dawn. Read all about that and more in today’s update from the Witcher sets.
First, though, we have a real surprise in store! Several onlookers were actually able to get us a good look at The Witcher’s set in the gardens of Fountains Abbey and it’s not what we were expecting.
These black tents and banners confirm that the crew is setting up a Nilfgaardian camp in the Studley Royal Water Garden at Fountains Abbey. It’s currently unknown whether this set will feature in tomorrow’s shoot with around 30 supporting artists playing elves or be used for an entirely different sequence.
As you can see in the first image, some of the tents are of a lighter color and different shape than those of the Nilfgaardians. Interestingly enough, they remind us of the elven tents from another camp scene we reported on in February. Seeing them set up near the black tents leads us to think that both elves and Nilfgaardians will appear in the same scene after all.
Of course, they may just be a different kind of Nilfgaardian tent. Either way, the main unit of the crew is currently occupied at Fountains Abbey and it looks like one of season two’s most notable newcomers will join them soon. Earlier today, Mecia Simson who plays the elven sorceress Francesca Findabair shared an Instagram story from a train journey and we think she might be on her way north. Will Francesca join the elven extras set to film at Fountains Abbey tomorrow?
Spoiler warning: In the books, the Empire of Nilfgaard eventually strikes a deal with the elven guerilla troops known as the Scoia’tael to sow discord in the Northern Realms. Perhaps we are looking at a scene that will show them cementing their alliance.
While everyone is getting ready at Fountains Abbey, a smaller crew unit of The Witcher revisited Plumpton Rocks to capture the scenic lake at dawn. We don’t know which cast members were present at the site, but we suspect the rocks will be used as another location for Yennefer’s and Ciri’s storyline.
This is definitely an interesting turn of events. With the Nilfgaardian camp set at Fountains Abbey, we might even be very close to our first look at the revised Nilfgaardian armor showrunner Lauren Hissrich promised. Stay tuned with Redanian Intelligence for tomorrow’s big shoot!
It’ll be good to see what comes from the set today if such a pivotal scene is being shot 🙂
Of course nillfgard will be involved. Cahir is a major character all the way up until he dies fighting Bonhart. They literally said they are following the books. Im sick of seeing all these articles about people guessing what’s going to happen next when we all know what’s going to happen next.