By Back in February, and before the Coronavirus pandemic changed the world as we know it, Netflix began filming The Witcher season two with stars Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan. Forced to halt production approximately four weeks into filming in March of 2020, director Stephen Surjik (Umbrella Academy) and the rest of the crew entered a five-month hiatus. When filming resumed in August at The Witcher headquarters in Arborfield Studios, Surjik was finally able to complete filming of the first two episodes of season two.
Much like season one, production on the second season of The Witcher was divided into four blocks of two episodes, with each block led by a different director. Surjik is the first of four directors to complete his block of filming for season two, and that marks an important milestone for the production (which the crew celebrated on set with an ice cream truck). That being said, this milestone also signals a major change of plans for the Netflix show.
Back in January, Redanian Intelligence broke the news that Surjik would be directing episodes for season two when he was spotted scouting locations across the Scottish Isle of Skye. Fans were excited to see Skye’s beautiful vistas come to life in the Continent, but that may no longer be the case. Since Surjik has completed his block of filming, it’s likely his plans in Skye have been canceled.
With the pandemic once again on the rise all around the world and fear of the challenging winter to come, it appears that filming on Skye has been postponed or perhaps cancelled entirely. Fans should expect the same to happen with plans for filming in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
One possibility is that the crew will travel to these locations for drone filming and establishing shots, which the post-production crew will be able to use in combination with green-screen filming at Arborfield Studios. For instance, the set seen above appears quite similar to the Storr, a location scouted several times for season two.
On to block two!
With filming of block one completed, season two continues production without interruption, this time with Cursed’s and The Last Kingdom‘s Sarah O’Gorman in the director’s chair. Over the past few weeks, O’Gorman joined the show’s location department and scouted potential locations in Northern England, including the beautiful Lake District.
Most notably, O’Gorman’s team scouted the beautiful ruins of Fountains Abbey, which would fit seamlessly with the show’s Elven aesthetic (although, it has also been speculated that the Abbey will be a section of the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen). Joining O’Gorman, the mysterious mage Vilgefortz of Roggeveen (played by Mahesh Jadu) has also returned to the set, promising interesting stories yet to come.
But that’s not all we know about block two, which consists of the show’s third and fourth episode. A recent reveal tipped by our keen-eyed reader Lorenzo implies that episode three will be an interesting one. First off, a new monster called a Myriapod is mentioned (which is essentially a giant centipede according to book lore). Besides the monster, episode three appears to cover Ciri’s training at Kaer Morhen and a return to season one’s eel grotto in Aretuza. Make sure to read the full article for all the details taken from an early online mood-board for episode three.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Witcher Season 2 may feature a Giant Centipede, more eels and other curious revelations
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