By Season 2 of The Witcher was released a month ago on Netflix to good success in various viewership metrics. Nevertheless, the work continues and with the scripts for Season 3 already written, the core team is already starting pre-production.
Producer Steve Gaub shared the beginning of location scouting for the new season. It’s not possible to say where exactly that is, but it’s safe to say the location should be conveniently close to Longcross Studios, the new production hub of The Witcher.
Showrunner Lauren Hissrich did the same a few days ago, presumably from the same scouting:
Gaub shared more from Longcross Studios, although things are just starting and a huge amount of things aren’t set or unpacked yet in the new place. But as he promises, they “definitely won’t be going smaller in Season 3 of The Witcher“.
READ MORE: The Witcher Season 3 to start filming in March 2022
As we previously reported, last we heard filming for The Witcher Season 3 was planned to begin in March 2022, but that may yet change. Regardless when they start or wrap, Season 3 is definitely coming in 2023. Redanian Intelligence will keep you posted!
Can they hire better writers though? How about some Witcher books lovers (or people who can read and understand the books) for a change?
I wish!
They can’t and they won’t as long a Lauren is in charge at the top who thinks that the show is basically a sitcom centering on middle age upper middle class bored women living in NY because that is the genre she knows. She knows fantasy only from hear-say since she doesn’t read the books. There was a nice cartoon in a Polish magazine a few days after S2 came out. First picture: Henry gives Lauren a Christmas present. She is very charmed…”o Henry, that wouldn’t have been necessary…” Second picture: She has unwrapped the the present, it is the Blood of Elves book. She makes a sour face. Unless Netflix kick her out because she doesn’t deliver as expected, they will keep her, and seriously, who would want to take over after all this… I am somewhat disappointed by the directors, though. The are not doing a very convincing job either, are not watching over internal consistency of the story line from one episode to another. It speaks loudly, I think, that high profile fantasy directors like Alik Sakharov have been asked to direct some episodes, but he, for example, turned it down apparently because of creative differences with the showrunner. So we’ll continue to get a sitcom. The alternative is to read the books (again).
I think we all wish they could hire some actual fans who would love to improve the series.
Thanks for the info RI. Your efforts are very much appreciated. Do you have any news from bts regarding the reception of s2? Can we hope for some creative changes or not to bother to come back? In short are they gonna continue doing their own thing or they are gonna start staying closer to the books and most importantly to the characters and their relationships? The Ciri/Geralt story was the highlight of the season. And according to your poll A Grain of Truth was by far the best episode because those were closer to the heart of the books. Hmmm…
This is my personal opinion but there is no hope anymore. Unless Henry Cavill has had enough and decide to make the changes himself like he did in the goodbye of Roach scene which was so poetic and emotional. Lauren and her writers are incapable.
It is so pity. The casting is fantastic, the locations, the visuals, the acting, the fightings are all amazing and the writing is so bad even though the series is based on books that are already written and finished (no excuse there) and they are so beloved but I guess Lauren finds them boring. Yeah, my last hope is Henry. Geralt’s goodbye to roach was so book!Geralt and I loved it (in contrast with what Lauren intented to do with the scene). I’ll check s3 only for Geralt/Ciri but it’s a shame what they did with Yen’s character.
I disagree. The books do have some points I wouldn’t mind the show could change. Like the book-Yen character, she is insufferable and harsh, who would like her or relate to her when she mistreats Geralt and Ciri all the time? Or the loooong descriptions and background of any random irrelevant character, or the diarrhea event for fucks sake… Geralt himself is different, book-Geralt is impulsive and rash, and frequently makes wrong decisions, while show-Geralt is much more clever and reflexive.
On the other hand, I didnt appreciate what they did to Eskel or the whole invented demon thing, like there is not enough menaces out there… but I keep high hopes for upcoming seasons.
I agree that not all of Sapkowski’s writing is great. But I see problems not predominantly in the book version of Yennefer’s character. She doesn’t mistreat Ciri. There is a lot of tough love, but there is no mistreatment. For instance, when Yennefer starts teaching Ciri at Ellander, Yennefer demands that Ciri be absolutely honest with her. Then Ciri – we get that she is a strong-willed character – demands the same of Yennefer. And surprisingly, Yennefer agrees, and as far as I can tell from the books, Yennefer stays true to that agreement. Furthermore – spoiler alert – Yennefer is ready to suffer and sacrifice herself for those she loves, even when she had just before given them the impression that she couldn’t care less. That doesn’t make her sympathetic all along, but a difficult to ponder, complex character. Anyways, I think the real problems with the book material are yet to begin for the show. I think that two of the books, Baptism of Fire and Tower of the Swallow, are not at the same level of narrative quality as the others. In those two books, the story starts meandering, introducing new side characters to keep the story going somehow, but it isn’t really interesting, and at times quite repetitive. Since that continues for some considerable page mileage, I suppose it would pose a real headache and challenge for the writers and showrunners. Perhaps not – they have managed to re-do even the better parts of the books and turn it into some random fantasy TV show, so probably they carry on and just ignore what is in the books.
I agree that there are points in the books that I wouldn’t bother so much if they changed them but all the changes they’ve made were for the worst imo. We don’t see much of Yennefer’s pov in the first books and I love that we have more Yen in the show but… Yen in the books is presented as cold and harsh but the more we meet her the more we see her sensitive side which she keeps only for Geralt and Ciri. Yen pays for Geralt’s depths, she thanks Jaskier for being there for Geralt when she wasn’t so he wouldn’t be alone, she comes to train Ciri only because Geralt asks her to do it and at first she sees her as a competitor but she loves her unconditionally eventually, just because she meets her, not bc she’s powerful or anything like what she said in the show. And later she goes through suffering and pain to protect the two people she loves, she asks the lodge to save Geralt’s life not hers and… we know what happens in the end. In short in the books we see real growth, from a calculative sorceress who finds it pathetic to cry to a woman who cries her heart out for the man she loves. When we see her cry in the end it’s something special and unique. If we reduce her character as to just cold and harsh imo we loose her whole growth and revolution. And to be cold and harsh is needed and is part of her character. It’s like saying that Severous Snape was harsh to Harry so let’s make him funnier and more emotional. And let’s not forget that in s2 Yen is nicer with everyone but she betrays the two people she shouldn’t, Geralt and Ciri, so how does that makes her character less harsh? Not to mention that the whole point of the books is that the villains of the story want Ciri to use her for her powers, Vilgefortz and the emperor, not to mention the lodge, and that Geralt and Yen see her as a human, their daughter, despite her powers. The show making Yen agreeing (under very stressful situations, it doesn’t matter) to sacrifice Ciri undermines the whole point. How is she gonna say “f you” to the lodge or Triss later when she did the same? I’m sure they’re gonna fix it bc they have to (and if they do, I’ll be more than happy to ignore the betrayal) but they shouldn’t have to, they wrote this story themselves and put themselves in this situation. Plus, and this is my personal opinion, I don’t trust the writers anymore.They read the books and especially the last chapter of BoE and they decided to have Yennefer betray Ciri and Geralt? As for the other parts, the diarrhea for instance, OK no one’s gonna complain that we don’t see Triss shit all the time but, but… bc of Triss’s illness, Geralt had to travel with Yarpen and the convoy and we had all these brilliant discussions about neutrality and why people can’t kill the elves and the attack later and everything. So just bc Triss’s sl wasn’t cinematic we had to loose one of the most poignant themes of the story and that is neutrality and why we can’t stay neutral. They could simply find another excuse for the trio to join Yarpen just like they could find another story for Yen that wouldn’t change the heart of the story and the whole purpose of it. As for book Geralt, I disagree, he’s impulsive and makes mistakes but that’s also part of his growth and he’s also a philosopher, a talkative man, someone who dreams a house with Yen and Ciri, who sacrifice himself to rescue Ciri, a naive, romantic guy who dies an idiotic death and so much more. But he and Ciri in s2 were closer to the source material than any other character and the rest of his traits we can still see them so I’m not complaining there. Last but not least, when you buy a beloved property to adapt you buy it for what it is. Imagine someone finding destroying the ring in LOTR too predictable! I don’t want 1:1 adaptation and especially the Witcher books are perfect for different approaches with the way they are written but I want a story that honors the characters and the themes of the books. I dont care if we don’t get the Beltane scene, the tent scene in s1 was equally effective but from changing Yen and give her more backstory and show her motives earlier to have her betraying Ciri and Geralt and eliminate her relationship with them completely goes a long way and s3 has a lot of work to do to correct thing. Sorry for the long post.
This🙌 They are adapting a beloved property, if they don’t love it themselves they could create their own fantasy world and do whatever they want and not using the name “The Witcher”. Using that name they have some responsibilities, the bare minimum ffs which is to stay true to the characters, relationships and themes of the story. And what’s worst is that the fans suggestions prove that they could do it right, it’s not that the story is difficult to transfer on screen or any other bs, there are many ways and fans have suggested them, it’s just that they chose not to and it shows the lack of respect they have.
Who cares if it’s small or big? Do they think this is what makes something good? I appreciate the locations, the effects and all that in s2 but other than that it was a fraking mess. Can they just follow the books properly? Can they honor the characters that sapkowski wrote instead of sacrificing them for the twist factor (looking at Yen’s plot)? That’s the point.
😟 I love this universe, I adore the books, they’re very special to me, I liked the first season despite the many mistakes but s2, for someone like me who loves this universe and these characters, was painful to watch. I doubt I’ll return for s3. What’s the point? To watch the rest of my favorites getting butchered? Yen’s character assassination in s2 was enough. Can they course correct things? Sure, it’s fiction and anything can happen but they need to hire better writers bc the ones they have proved that they can’t get the books and Lauren needs to give more creative control to someone who loves the books and doesn’t desire to change everything for the sake of changing them. But she won’t bc she’s full of herself and I’m sure she’s very proud of her writing. Ciri’s and Geralt’s meeting, Geralt’s and Yennefer’s wish thing, Yennefer’s whole character in s2, Jaskier using Geralt’s trauma to create a song to hurt him instead of singing about the Witcher and his child Surprise and his love for the sorceress, the law of surprise, Nilfgaard, Yen’s and Ciri’s relationship, Vesemir, Eskel’s character, reducing Yarpen’s role and erasing his political views while creating original characters or expanding one time characters from the books with pointless storylines, failing to adapt the themes of classicism and oppression, the elves, Tissaia’s character in s2 who suddenly became a child killer like Stregobor, where do the senseless changes end?And for what reason? Not bc they couldn’t do those things right but because the writers and Lauren do not understand those things and their importance. They changed the brokilon meeting in s1 and got so much criticism for their decision (and in Lauren’s words that’s the one criticism she took at heart) so they had to course correct it in s2 (and thanks to Henry Cavill and Freya Allan they managed to) but they made even more changes in s2. Where’s the logic in that? Anyway, thanks for the news RI, I’ll keep checking this site for leaks and info from the filming bc you were correct for s2. Hope this time the leaks are more positive than last time. Much love to the team of this site.
I agree with every word. I’m sad to say this but whoever wrote this season needs to change profession.
So soon? I was hoping after s2 criticism TPTB would take some time to hire someone to correct the scripts and keep them in line with the books. I hope Henry will do that during filming, at least in his scenes and in Yen’s relationship with Geralt (if Lauren decides to give them the screen time this season *sigh*). I wish he had more power to influence others sl as well. His changes in s2 show how much difference a different line or an added scene can do. Geralt’s last scene with Roach is just on point, (poetic and sad as the books are) and the campfire scene with Geralt & Ciri in episode one marks realistically the beginning of their bonding. How better the season would be if they focused more on the main trio in the last two episodes to show their emotions and bond instead the monsters and voleth meir! *sigh*
One other thing I absolutely loathe is Triss and Fringilla calling Yennefer Yen. They went with the whole “Yenna” , “Yen” dialogue only to have other characters call her like that! 🤮 Just another proof that these people do not understand the characters and they have zero respect for the fans.
There is another casting issue that will be bothersome in the seasons to come. Actor Bart Edwards is, in my opinion, an utter miscast as Emhyr. Edwards is too young and looks too plain, and he and Tom Canton who plays Rience are too similar lookwise. The Nilfgaard emperor would have to be an impressive figure, sending out that he is in a powerful position he had been working for quite hard. He is not just evil, however he is cunning and a skilled strategist. The actor who is in this role at present cannot portray those characteristics. But well, that is not the only doubtful casting choice. But just to point this out. There may have been all sorts of problems with Game of Thrones, but the casting choices were excellent for the most part. That is unfortunately much different for the Witcher show.
Now that the new lotr series is coming, The Witcher has a huge competitor (and let’s be real, LOTR will get some major awards and will be massive) so if Lauren and her team don’t take the fans seriously, if they keep alienating the book fans and the game fans by screwing their favorite characters (vesemir, yennefer, eskel to name a few), if they continue ignoring the books and keep writing their own bad story then The Witcher is screwed. I hope they know that and they are starting to make some corrections starting in s3.
I hope it’s better than s2 but there’s little possibility for that. They fucked up the story and the characters so badly that I don’t know if there’s a way they can fix it. Not with Lauren and these writers.
What would otherwise be exciting news, after s2 there are worrisome. Apparently they didn’t do any changes in the creative team, I doubt they listened to the critisism and they’ll continue changing the books to the point they’re unrecognizable. The only one I still trust is Henry Cavill, he understands the characters, he loves the books, he’s a fan of them (unlike Lauren), he gave meaning to roach’s death, he added the campfire scene at the end of episode 1 (which was the best bc it was the most loyal to the source material), he rejected a romance between geralt and triss while geralt was still mourning yennefer, he is the only one who cares these characters to be represented as closer to the books as possible. Honestly, it would be better if there were no scripts at all for s3. The actors should just read the dialogues from the books and improvise their reactions and the production team and directors to work straight from the books. Anya Chalotra reading blood of elves was more rewarding and in character than yennefer’s storyline in s2.