After its December 2019 launch, Netflix’s “The Witcher” was viewed by 76 million households in the first month.
Now, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich says the second season, which streams next year, has been mapped out. “Witcher” filming was interrupted in February, due to the pandemic. But production worldwide is gradually scheduled to resume — as safe film procedures are hammered out.
For eager fans, she’s given some early hints of what’s coming in The Wrap’s Emmy magazine.
While major characters, led by Henry Cavill are returning, new additions include Kristofer Hivju (“Game of Thrones”) as Nivellen and Kim Bodnia (“Killing Eve”) as Vesemir. They will be joined by Yasen Atour, Aisha Fabienne Ross, Agnes Bjorn, Paul Bullion, Mecia Simson and Thue Ersted Rasmussen.
“Probably my favorite additions for season two are the new witchers,” Hissrich said.
“I always talk about how these three characters coming together — Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer — they come together as a family. For Geralt, it’s his brothers; it’s the brotherhood of the witchers. So I’m really excited to get back in and meet Vesemir, his father figure, for the first time and all of these men that he was raised with since he was seven years old.”
“The Witcher” is based on the novel series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The multiple timelines that tell the stories of Gerlat, Yennefer and Ciri threw some fans off in season one. But Hissrich has promised season two won’t adopt that approach.
In season two, the trio will share the same timeline.
“What I think is really fun about Geralt and Ciri is they are the most unexpected family you can imagine. You have a witcher whose sole job is to kill things for money and you have a little girl who is trying to escape her past and it’s like, how do they come together? And to me, one of the most fun things we get to explore in season two is how they get to change and shift each other.”
Teasing out more season two details, Hissrich said on Twitter: “I can’t wait to dig deeper into Cahir and Fringilla in [The Witcher season 2], who they are, why Nilfgaard is important, and where they’ll go from here. It’s one of my favorite parts of the new season.”