By Our last filming report covered the shooting nearby Gyarmatpuszta Hunting Lodge, which occurred during May’s third week. A week later, we are able to place the crew once again at this location, filming both day and night shoots. We’ve already gotten a first look at Nilfgaardian armor, but now we have some new information (and one bit of wild speculation which involves a certain Emperor). Read more for all the details and some beautiful pictures from the set of The Witcher.
UPDATE: There were a few small updates from the weekend, and we’ll share them under the break. If you missed the original article, make sure to take a look as well!
After wrapping the Nilfgaardian shoot, filming has returned to the forests of Visegrad and Mafilm studios. The former could be anything, but the latter may well be a return to Blaviken, for Pilot reshoots (as hinted in the original article by the presence of Mia McKenna-Bruce).
More importantly, we were able to get some answers regarding the role of Mate Haumann. Despite similarities to Bart Edwards, who plays Duny, Mate will not in fact be playing the Nilfgaardian Emperor (as speculated below). This was confirmed to us by TheWitcher.tv, who contacted their official Netflix source.
Other guesses as to Mate’s role were Meeno Coehoorn, the Nilfgaardian general, Rience, Vilgefortz right-hand man, and also Yurga. A quick reminder about Yurga: he is the man who saves Geralt in the short story “Something More“, which has recently been confirmed with the casting of Jack Wolfe as Yurga’s son.
Another casting TheWitcher.tv were able to ask about was Callum Coates. We suspected Callum might actually have been playing self-righteous mage Dorregaray, as one extra/actor wearing a mage-like costume in the Canaries filming did look somewhat like Callum and it’s known that he will appear in a Charlotte Brändström episode. This guess was denied by Netflix. Callum may be our Borch, on the other hand, though social media follows don’t imply that connection at all. Another possibility would be Neville, the mayor of Rinde, whose casting sheet leaked a few months ago.
Scroll down for the original article, with more info and pictures (as well as another new cast member).
As reported, the location at Gyarmatpuszta, which could serve as multiple settings in the show, was visited by various cast members throughout the third week of May. First there were Henry Cavill (Geralt) and new cast member Jack Wolfe (now confirmed as Nadbor, son of Yurga), who were filming a scene with finale director Marc Jobst. Then, Ciri actress Freya Allan was also placed on location, where she would be filming nightshoots for most of the week. Towards the end of that week, actors Mahesh Jadu (Vilgefortz) and Mate Haumann (role unknown) were on location as well.
As the fourth week of May began, Redanian Intelligence agents were able to place actress Mimi Ndiweni (Nilfgaardian sorceress Fringilla Vigo) on location. This same week will be Mimi’s last on the first season of The Witcher, and her filming may be related to the Nilfgaardian campsite, or perhaps to the scene involving Mahesh Jadu (if this is a continuation of the sequence filmed at Egri Var, involving many mages in battle). Another sorceress back in Budapest is Rhianna McGreevy (who was cast as Coral).
As seen above, this week’s filming appears to have focused on the Nilfgaardian camp, and the crew may well have shot a battle scene as well. In this video, they can be seen practicing a fight or perhaps just fooling around.
Also on location was a new cast member. Hungarian actress Jessie Cam (born Jessica Camacho), who we’ve suspected was involved in The Witcher, posted a picture from Gyarmatpuszta during a nightshoot, confirming her involvement in the show. Camacho (not to be confused with the American actress of the same name) was last spotted on set when the crew was filming reshoots as well as the mage sequence, and could be involved with either storyline.
The next actor spotted on location was Mate Haumann. Mate has once again posted a picture from this location, inciting wild speculation as to what his role could be. In the picture, he appears to be wearing a black shirt that goes under his costume, so he could be wearing armor. With all the Nilfgaardian filming, it’s quite possible that he is one of the Black Ones.
Filming at Gyarmatpuszta was held on the lakebed for what was described by the crew as “swamp scenes” and also in the nearby forest. Whether all these scenes are part of one large sequence or involve several disparate storylines is unknown.
Regarding reshoots, actress Mia Bruce, who was cast in the role of Marilka, was also in Budapest this week. Mia’s reappearance suggests that the show may have resumed reshoots for the pilot episode throughout the week. It is possible that filming for the pilot was done once again in Mafilm studios, as the crew were there towards the end of the week.
With filming for The Witcher wrapping by the end of the month, the crew enters their final week of production for season one. Stay tuned with Redanian Intelligence as we will keep you updated on all things Witcher—during filming and long after the wrap. Coming soon is a new location report from our good spy GoTlikeLocations. Stay tuned!
Thank you for sharing. The photos are amazing Rainbow skies👏👌
Thank you, Kathleen 🙂