By The Witcher season two has been filming at a breakneck pace within the sets at Arborfield Studios, with stars Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri (Freya Allan) joining new witcher characters at the fortress of Kaer Morhen. Now, after nearly two months of studio filming, Netflix has finally taken it’s crew to a location just outside London. Read on for pictures from the location and our speculation on the scenes that were filmed.
UPDATE 09/10/20: Freya Allan who plays Princess Ciri has shared a story on her Instagram account confirming her presence at the nightshoots currently held in the forest near Deepcut. With Ciri on set, Henry Cavill’s presence as Geralt is all but confirmed and our speculation on the sequence filmed at Deepcut seems quite likely. Read the original article for all the details.
UPDATE 08/10/20: Filming has resumed at Deepcut this morning, and the crew has invited a furry new cast member to the set, a wild boar. Read the original article for more details and our guess at the scenes that are being filmed.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
On Tuesday, October 6, trucks and trailers belonging to Netflix’s The Witcher crew arrived at the forest near the town of Deepcut, carrying smoke machines and a mountain of fake snow. On Tuesday morning, our Instagram partner @witcherflix was contacted by a local who managed to grab a few pictures of the location.
This location had been used in another recent Netflix production, Cursed. Director Sarah O’Gorman who is now filming The Witcher directed an episode of Cursed as well, and it’s possible she had filmed there before. Besides Cursed, the location was used in both Kingsmen movies.
Throughout Tuesday, the fake snow was spread across the forest floor, setting the scene for a shoot estimated to last until October 13. One source mentioned that the area was made to look like a mountain pass. Besides the snow and the smoke, fake rocks were apparently carried to the location.
On Wednesday, filming began in the forest, with Henry Cavill himself rumored to be on location. Unfortunately, the area was heavily guarded by The Witcher‘s security team and locals could not confirm this, but we have reason to believe that Cavill was there on Wednesday morning.
What scene were the crew filming? A previous article of ours described an early production mood-board which featured, among other things, Ciri’s training at Kaer Morhen and a return of season one’s eel grotto. Also included was an assortment of fan art depicting a wintery forest that would be in season two’s third episode. In the same file, a particularly terrifying monster was mentioned and appeared to be part of the same forest sequence. If you wish to avoid potential spoilers, it’s best not to read the next two paragraphs.
In the novel Blood of Elves, Ciri spends the winter with Triss, Geralt, and the witchers of Kaer Morhen (Vesemir, Coen, Lambert, and Eskel). There, Ciri trains to fight with the sword and hunt monsters. Though the novels didn’t fully explore Ciri’s monster-hunting training, we believe that the show may include a scene that does just that.
If our speculation is correct, the third episode of The Witcher season two could see Geralt and Ciri setting off on a dangerous hunt in the forest during their winter in Kaer Morhen. The monster they would fight may be the previously confirmed leshy (known to gamers as a leshen) or alternatively the myriapod – which is essentially a giant centipede. The second monster would perhaps be more fitting, as the scene that first introduced Ciri to Geralt in the novels (and was cut from season one) featured the exact same monster.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Witcher Season 2 may feature a Giant Centipede, more eels and other curious revelations
Is The Witcher season two paying homage to a scene from the books that Netflix could not fit into the first season? Does the prospect of Ciri and Geralt hunting a monster together excite you as much as it does us? Share your thoughts in the comments below and on our Twitter page. And, as always, stay tuned with Redanian Intelligence for all the latest news from the Continent.
I’m not looking forward to this season. I’m sorry guys/gals I just don’t have much hope for the series anymore.
Geralt and Ciri hunting together and bonding as father and daughter is everything I want. I can’t wait for when Yen will join the family. I worry about her stuff before she meets Ciri though. The books have little information and the Aretuza spoilers plus the return of eels bore me to death. I love that she’s apparently captured by the elves while Geralt thinks she’s dead and I wish that’s how they cross paths again. Maybe while Geralt and Ciri travel to Ellander they meet her? If not I hope Yen won’t go back to Aretuza after she escapes the elves. If she escapes before Geralt and Ciri cross path with the group, I hope she’ll go into hiding and Geralt learns it and goes to search for her and tell her about Ciri. Maybe when she’s with Fringilla and Francesca she learns about the prophecy of the child of elder blood, the princess of Cintra and she agrees to help him? Idk where Triss fit in all that. I wouldn’t mind if they don’t include her to Kaer Morher stuff. Keep her in Aretuza and the mage politics.
It reminds me of American(?) novel Cuckoo’s Egg. Cat-like warrior Dunn adopts human boy, raises and drills him by hunting the boy in the surrounding woods. Frustrated with failures boy decides to break the rules. He leaves the designated area, aims at the nearest village only to put him and his adoptive father into a danger and causing an innocent villager’s death. I wonder what a girl would do in such situation 🙂
As one who has not read the books, but love the first season. I am most interested in Geralt finding it in himself to be a mentor to Ciri and therefore we will see as he discovers that side of him and how he can summon up the courage to be a little vulnerable. I also want to see Ciri’s journey as she realizes how much she needs and cares for this larger than life man. Also, I love the swordplay. I have never seen such excellent moves. Henry Cavill has mastered this art and I want to see a lot of it in Season 2.
Geralt and ciri really need quality time and establish a father and daughter relationship .. I hope to see also quality time between ciri and Yennfer I loved the relationship of mother and daughter that Mr. Sapkowski wrote in the books, I need to see this also in the series
it is a pity they are making it in UK, winter is coming, imagine setting in with real snow in Alps or Tatra mountains, or where ever where you have great views
@ VERITAS AEQUITAS
…winter is coming…so much said with so few words. If it is honest work on their side and in good will, I’m ok with it. If it’s not…let them have “their” winter then.