By After an incredibly long wait, Netflix has finally released the trailer for Season 3 of The Witcher. This season will be Henry Cavill‘s last in Geralt’s shoes, and based on this trailer it seems he will end his run in an action-packed season full of twists and turns.
Of course, co-stars Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Freya Allan (Ciri) will be giving him a run for his money, with the stakes higher than ever. Joey Batey (Jaskier) seems to have an expanded role, on par with the three leads.
Before we dissect every frame of the trailer, we would like to say this: there is a lot that the trailer doesn’t show. This includes many key characters such as Philippa (Cassie Clare), Dijkstra (Graham McTavish), and more. Now let’s dive in.
SPOILER WARNING: There will be some spoilers from the novels in our analysis, although we will try not to spoil big moments. There will also be a lot of minor spoilers, based on what we’ve learned so far, including things we haven’t revealed before. Read on at your own discretion.
Speaking of spoilers, at a later date we intend to do a summary of each episode of Season 3 with some mild and moderate spoilers not to ruin anyone’s experience, so watch out for that one.
The Rose of Shaerrawaedd
The first episode of Season 3, titled Shaerrawedd, will cover events from the novel Blood of Elves, during which Geralt and Ciri, accompanied by a caravan of dwarves led by Yarpen Zigrin (played by Jeremy Crawford in the show) pass by an old elven ruin.
This ruin is of particular historic significance to the Elves, as it is an ancient palace and once a center of the Elven civilization. When the war with the Humans forced the Elves to retreat, they chose to destroy Shaerrawedd rather than let it fall into human hands. And now all that remains is a ruin, a symbol of all that was lost, and all that may yet be.
Neutrality. It won’t get you a statue, but it’ll certainly help in keeping you alive.
A key theme in The Witcher, and in particular in the upcoming third season, is Geralt’s ideology: neutrality. In the very first episode of the series, Geralt’s fatal confrontation with Renfri taught him that it is always better to stay neutral. “Evil is Evil. Lesser, greater, middling… If I’m to choose between one evil and another… I’d rather not choose at all.”
The tale of Shaerrawedd serves as even more proof for Geralt that neutrality is the best choice in the cruel reality of the Continent, and he takes this opportunity to teach his adoptive daughter Ciri this lesson, as he does in the books, with the story of the Elven rebellion.
But as the show is keen to do, there is a twist to the story with respect to Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels. This time, Yennefer is here.
We have already heard from the showrunner that Yennefer will not fully agree with Geralt’s message, so this sequence will serve as another opportunity for the two attracting opposites to converge around their daughter Ciri, and hopefully find some middle ground.
History has a way of repeating itself. The dangers we’ve seen fortell an even more menacing future.
But this is The Witcher, and the creepy ancient ruins will not only be the setting of a wholesome family moment. There will also be a fight, and we see quite a lot of it in the trailer.
Blood of Elves
Unsurprisingly, Elves will make an appearance, and they are after Ciri. These Elves are a ragged band of rebels called the Squirrels or Scoia’tael, and they will be led by Francesca (Mecia Simson).
Joining her will be most of the key Elven characters in the show: Filavandrel (Tom Canton), Gage (Kaine Zajaz), Dara (Wilson Mbomio), and last but not least, newcomer Gallatin (Robbie Amell). We don’t see Amell anywhere, but we know he has a big scar on his face. But no, he isn’t Isengrim.
In the above screenshot, we can see an elf firing an arrow alongside some of the Scoia’tael. Note that one of them appears to be a dwarf or halfling, which suggests that as in the books, the Squirrels will comprise more than just Elves. In fact, the Scoia’tael is a union of all the non-human races who are persecuted and oppressed in the Northern Realms of the Continent.
As mentioned before, the Scoia’tael are after Ciri, but what they don’t know is that the young princess is also a witcher-in-training. This will serve as Ciri’s first proper opportunity to show us what she’s learned at Kaer Morhen, after a rather disappointing lack of Ciri fight scenes at the end of Season 2.
In this picture, we almost get a glimpse of Francesca behind Ciri. The princess seems to be handling herself quite well despite being surrounded, so this should prove to be an exciting fight scene. Of course, it becomes even more exciting when she fights alongside Geralt.
We got another glimpse at this sequence in the teaser trailer released last month. In the teaser, we can see Yennefer casting some spell which we believe to be a portal. Meanwhile, Geralt is spilling Blood of Elves all over their sacred palace. Here we can see that Filavandrel and Francesca are present, out of focus in the background. Our knowledge regarding Dara and Gallatin is not from the trailer, but they are there too.
But the Scoia’tael aren’t the only ones pursuing Ciri, and another one of them will be joining the chaos in this particular fight scene. One of the many villains with their eyes set on Ciri is the sorcerer Rience (recast by Sam Woolf), who is seen flinging a fireball at Yennefer. Yennefer is able to use her magic to deflect it.
A keen eye will notice that the Rience shot is actually taken from another scene (more on that in the next section). However, we can confirm that Rience is indeed there to fling fireballs at Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri in addition to the Scoia’tael.
What is Rience up to?
The way the trailer was edited, one is led to believe that Rience is throwing a fireball right at Yennefer. He is, but not in this particular shot. As we see it, there are two options for what happens here and the first is more convincing.
Option one is that this is an entirely different scene in which Geralt fights Rience. We see Geralt evading a similar fireball at another point in the trailer, and the location is rather similar. Looks like Geralt and Rience will meet and fight numerous times this season.
The second option is that Rience is setting fire to a location we have already visited in Season 2: the investigative agency of Codringher and Fenn.
In fact, we have already seen another frame from this scene in the teaser trailer. In that one, Rience kindly rescues the cat from the fires he set. Though he is an arsonist, Rience does not jive with animal cruelty.
Who are Codringher and Fenn and what is their significance? Well, last season we saw Istredd (Royce Pierresen) meet them to discuss the monoliths. This time, it will be Geralt who meets them, and they will discuss Ciri’s lineage, as they do in the books. An image was shared of Geralt’s meeting with the investigators a few weeks ago, as seen above.
We suspect the above image is also from this scene with Geralt at Codringher and Fenn’s. Anyway, Rience isn’t happy with Geralt snooping around. His answer to any sort of issue seems to be setting it on fire, so that’s what we see in the Rience shot.
Another frame, another arson
We get a quick glimpse of one arid location, where one lone structure overlooks the sea. The structure has a rather different architecture from the typical fantasy town or village, with a more desert-like theme. What’s happening here, you ask? Well, in addition to the trailer, a short montage was released that answers this question.
As we can see in the additional clip, Yennefer and Ciri will spend much of the first episode together as a family, but they will be moving from place to place. One of their stops will be this little shack in the desert. But family time can’t last forever with Rience on their heels.
When we next see the desert shack, it’s being set on fire. In this case, it isn’t Rience specifically who’s setting fire to stuff, which may be surprising, although he could still be involved. Most likely, Rience has sent his henchmen to do the dirty work. But he may be there, too, just out of frame.
Fun fact: this sequence was filmed on a beach in Croatia, and we have some behind-the-scenes photos of the set.
READ MORE: The Witcher Season 3 wraps in Croatia, filming to resume at Longcross Studios
The Monsters of Season 3
One of the first shots in the trailer shows Geralt making his way through a dark cavern. No doubt, he is out on the job, hunting for a monster in the darkness. In this scene, Geralt is wearing a new leather outfit, the same one he wears in the picture of his meeting with Codrhinger. In that picture, his face was covered in blood, so one can assume that Geralt has successfully hunted that monster.
We don’t actually get to see this one, but fortunately, the trailer does provide numerous other gruesome monsters for us to feast our eyes on. First and foremost: the Shaelmaar.
Well, it may not technically be a shaelmaar, we don’t know how are they calling it in the series, but for convenience we’ll call it shaelmaar for now.
The Shaelmaar is seen walking through a hedge maze which we’ve already seen in the season’s teaser trailer. Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri are all there, as is Rience.
This ugly creature comes barrelling toward Ciri, and it is able to roll up in a ball like an H. R. Giger Sonic the Hedgehog. But Ciri has already conquered the pendulum at Kaer Morhen, so this monster doesn’t really pose a threat.
A conveniently placed metal pole offers Ciri her escape in the last moment, and the Shaelmaar ends up rolling towards the worst possible thing: Geralt of Rivia. Goodbye, old friend.
Next up, our favorite ghostly warriors: the Wild Hunt! We’ve already seen this sequence in the teaser trailer, but now we also know how it ends.
In the teaser, we saw the spectral riders chasing Ciri in the forest. Ciri is on horseback, but the Wild Hunt are closing in. Thankfully, Geralt jumps in with a handy Aard and it seems like he will yeet them away.
After Geralt yeets away the ghosts, he reunites with Ciri and gives her a hug reminiscent of their first meeting in the show. This was a close one.
Technically, the Wild Hunt aren’t even monsters. But don’t worry, there is another monster here for you! This one is a little bit stranger, and it’s not something we recognize. We first encounter this monster when Geralt, Ciri, and Jaskier are on a boat. This boat is likely en route to Aretuza, where our Witcher family will have an iconic reunion. See the below article for more details.
READ MORE: The Witcher Season 3 To Include a Beloved Yennefer and Geralt Moment From the Books
Back to the matter at hand, these three are on a boat and a many armed frog with fangs jumps aboard. Naturally, the beastie is after Ciri, and Geralt is there to help her finish it off.
Interestingly, it seems that Ciri will be dealing the killing blow when she pierces her sword through Kermit’s head. And this is the second time the trailer spoils the end of a fight, following the Wild Hunt.
Is Geralt a bit jealous of Ciri here? Or is he just coming to the realization that he will never hear the end of this from Jaskier?
UPDATE: Thanks to some of our followers on Discord, we may have identified Kermit as an Aeschna. Last year, Netflix posted a monster size chart with a Kermit-looking monster on it titled Aeschna, and it seems that was taken from Season 3.
Last but not least, another tease! In the novel Time of Contempt, Ciri goes on a brief adventure with a boy named Fabio Sachs (Stuart Thompson), and during their travels, they enter a circus. In this circus, a monster is caged for the amusement of the people. We get a glimpse of this sequence in the trailer, with Ciri and Faabio entering the circus.
What monster is caged at the circus? It depends on who you ask. The circus people claim the monster is a Basilisk, but Ciri has trained as a witcher and knows they are wrong. In fact, the monster is a Wyvern!
But a caged monster is boring, right? Well, you can imagine what happens. This is The Witcher, after all.
Yennefer teaches Ciri magic
Besides Shaerrawaedd, one of the key ingredients missing from Blood of Elves is Ciri’s magical training sessions with Yennefer. These sessions allowed the two women to bond and form a mother-daughter relationship. Though that was missed in Season 2, Season 3 will be doubling back to cover this material.
We see a glimpse of that in the trailer, in which Yennefer guides Ciri to use her magical powers to restore leaves on a dried-up tree. Hopefully, there’s a lot more of Yennefer and Ciri’s training sessions.
Geralt and Yennefer reignite their love at Belleteyn
We’ve already discussed at length how Season 3 will mend the relationship of Yennefer and Geralt, and that a major part of that will happen during the Belleteyn festival. In the trailer, we get a few frames from the Belleteyn sequence, including the one above. The scene with the shaelmaar monster in the hedge maze is also from that sequence.
READ MORE: How The Witcher Will Fix Geralt and Yennefer’s Relationship in Season 3
We also get a quick shot of Geralt and Yennefer kissing passionately, apparently after making up. This doesn’t look like Belleteyn because Yennefer isn’t wearing her mask and cage dress, but we’ll hijack this section with some great Yenralt content.
Family vacation
Season 3 gives our main trio the opportunity to spend some time together and bond as a family. Much of that time will be spent hopping from one location to the next, with Rience in pursuit. We will see the family travel across the Continent throughout the season’s first episode, and this scene appears to be one such moment.
Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri are seen riding beside some castle or building. Ciri and Yennefer are riding, while Geralt is walking. Perhaps they are parting ways momentarily? Is Geralt off to investigate or hunt some monster in a dark cave? We’ll see.
Meanwhile, in Cintra
While things go down in the Northern Realms, the occupied Cintra is looking rather chill.
The Nilfgaardian throne wouldn’t be complete without the derriere that sits on it, so, fortunately, we also get a look at Emperor Emhyr var Emreis in the trailer.
Last we saw him, he was revealed to be Ciri’s father Duny at the closing scene of Season 2. Obviously, there’s a lot to be explained in the coming episodes. One thing we can already learn from the trailer is that Emhyr still cares for Ciri.
We see Emhyr observing a portrait of baby Ciri in the above shot. Is he after his daughter simply for a family reunion? If so, he may have saved all the battles and deaths by simply knocking at the gates of Cintra and yelling “Daddy’s home”.
Probably, there’s something more nefarious at play, and it’s related to the prophecy we’ve been hearing about from the Nilfgaardian zealots.
Speaking of Nilfgaard, Cahir (Eamon Farren) is another character missing from the trailer. We do see him in one of the newly released promotional photos, where he’s wearing rags and is surrounded by Nilfgaardian soldiers. Has the Emperor released him from prison for one last attempt to capture Ciri?
We do know he’s meeting a very old friend here. We’ll cover who that is in a later report.
RELATED ARTICLE: The Witcher Transforms Guildford Cathedral into a Nilfgaardian Palace
Geralt and Jaskier reunited
We’ve come a long way from Burn, Butcher, Burn!
Geralt and Jaskier are back together, traveling through the forests of the Continent. This time, they’re having a rather important conversation in which Geralt admits that his newly found family has made him feel actual, real fear for the first time in his life.
I won’t abandon Ciri
Neutraity has consequences, too.
It seems Ciri and Yennefer aren’t the only ones with whom Geralt will discuss his ideological neutrality. Jaskier will disagree, as he does, but the true surprise comes after that.
You’re right.
When Geralt admits Jaskier is right, Jaskier knows something is deeply wrong. Geralt agreeing with Jaskier is a monumental, historic event.
I’m right? Well, that’s deeply worrying.
Thanks to some promotional photos, we also have another picture of the dynamic duo at play. Here Geralt is walking around with a heart in his hand, probably belonging to that sea monster.
I’ll never get over how cute they are, for monsters. And they’re like: “No, please don’t hurt me!” And then wham! Fangs.
The Thanedd Ball
Yennefer: Are you sure about this?
Geralt: Are you?
The centerpiece of The Witcher Season 3 will be the Thanedd Ball and the events that follow, and much like in the novel Time of Contempt, this will happen just after the mid-point of the season. Episode 5 will be a big episode set at the Thanedd Ball, and ending with a cliffhanger. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, what comes after will have to wait for the release of Volume II on July 27.
For the moment, we’ll focus on the Thanedd Ball. We have already seen a ball at the Aretuza School of Sorcersses on Thanedd Isle in Season 1, but this one will be bigger and more impressive. Firstly, there will be many more characters involved.
Like in the books, pretty much the entire cast of mages and sorceresses will be there. In the above screenshot alone, we can see Geralt and Yennefer dancing at the bottom middle, Triss (Anna Shaffer) and Lydia (Aisha Fabienne Ross) dancing on the left side, Artorius (Terrence Maynard) and Marti (Michalina Olszanska) in the center, Margarita (Rochelle Rose) and in the top middle, and Sabrina (Therica Wilson-Read) on the bottom right.
We can also see the bard Valdo Marx (Nathan Laryea) and his drummer (Josh Weller).
We also get a good closeup of Geralt and Yennefer dancing. And they exchange a look with Tissaia (MyAnna Buring), Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), and Bianca (Poppy Almond).
But of course, no everyone likes to dance. Some people just like to watch creepily from the balcony, and Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) is that guy! Expect to hear a lot of shade coming from him in this episode.
Two key characters are notably missing from this trailer, but we have a good look at them in a new promotional picture. They are, of course, Philippa and Dijkstra (already mentioned above).
Philippa’s role in the mage community is as yet unclear in the show, although she seems to be incognito or some sort of outcast, judging by her lack of presence and/or her owl state in the past. We’ve heard that she might have an old beef with Tissaia. Wonder what about. Could they be exes?
Dijkstra, too, hasn’t done much other than rant at an owl so far, but we aren’t worried.
What’s for certain is that Philippa and Dijkstra will be key players in everything that transpires at Thanedd, so keep an eye out for them. We’re excited to see them taking charge.
Could this be another key Geralt and Yennefer scene from the books?
Thanks to a couple of promotional photos, we can see Geralt and Yennefer entering a room fitted with curtains. Yennefer looks excited, and Geralt looks curious but worried. This could be Yen and Geralt’s private room for the night, and if it is, this is probably the setting of one of the most iconic Yen and Geralt scenes in the books.
It is, of course, a love scene. It is the moment in the books in which the two lovers pledge themselves to one another and finally succumb to their feelings. That makes this scene too important to cut, so we are confident we will see it happen one way or another.
Geralt and Ciri on the way to the ship
We’re witchers.
We’re almost done with our frame-by-frame analysis, now we have just a few quick sections left to cover. The first is a couple of Geralt and Ciri scenes.
Is that so?
Earlier, we saw Geralt, Ciri, and Jaskier fighting Kermit the frog on a ship. Now we’ll go back a bit in time, Geralt and Ciri are on the way to this boat. Our guess is that this happens after their reunion, meaning after the Wild Hunt attacks, and sometime before Episode 5.
In the above shot, we can see Geralt and Ciri approaching a dock where, no doubt, Jaskier is already waiting for them.
This is a good opportunity to cover another Geralt-Ciri scene in the trailer.
For the first time, I understand real fear.
It seems that Geralt admits his fears to Ciri, and in doing so admits his fatherly feelings for her. This is sure to be an emotional moment carried by Cavill and Allan’s performances. This also seems to happen on the dock, or perhaps on the ship.
Yennefer and Tissaia
Another reunion we’re all excited about is Tissaia and Yennefer’s. Serving as the emotional backbone of the first season, these two are always a joy to watch when they share a scene. But now they are in a very different place than they used to be.
Everything that’s happening… It’s all connected. And she’s at the center of it.
Tissaia has become a leading member of the mage order and has united with the mage Vilgefortz both romantically and strategically. Meanwhile, Yennefer has unwittingly become a mother to Ciri, the child of prophecy. Yennefer will admit the complexity of her situation to Tissaia, and it seems the Rectoress of Aretuza will provide some good council.
If war is coming, there’s no hiding her from it.
Yennefer Quick Hits
We’re not quite sure what’s happening in the above picture, although it seems like Yennefer is in some kind of conundrum.
Here we see Yennefer stepping into a portal inside a large chamber. We don’t know where it leads, but we do see Yen exiting a portal later in the trailer. This could be a completely different portal, of course, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
This other portal seems to lead Yen to the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Could this be Thanedd?
Family vs Rience
Now it’s time for some payback. Rience has been stalking the Witcher fam all season, and they’re done with him. Thanks to some filming spoilers, we seem to know exactly what happens in this scene.
Spoilers: this scene is a very drastic change from what happens in the novels. Read the linked article only if you don’t mind the spoiler.
SPOILERS: Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan Film a Fiery Fight Scene for The Witcher
Geralt fights Professor’s goons in slow-mo
It would not be The Witcher without a slow-motion shot of Geralt cleaving some goons. In this case, we get more than a few of them. This is a the very beginning of the season where we see Geralt encountering The Professor and his gang. We don’t see The Professor here, but we won’t be seeing him for long.
Indeed, the fight choreography seems to have stepped up this season with Wolfgang Stegemann back as the fight choreographer. Stegemann was the mastermind behind the choreography of the Blaviken fight between Geralt and Renfri, as well as the preceding fight between Geralt and some goons. Both fights were excellent, so we expect more great fights in Season 3.
Despite the mixed feelings about this being Henry Cavill’s final season, I think we can all enjoy his last hurrah – because it seems he will also be at the top of his game, alongside Stegemann.
The Witcher Season 4 is in production for a 2025 release. Andrzej Sapkowski’s new Witcher book has a planned Winter 2024/2025 release with The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep anime set for a late 2024 release as well.
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