Fantasy fans who have a Netflix subscription are getting closer to the day that’s been nearly two years in the making, as June 29 will mark the debut of the first half of The Witcher’s third season. The lead up to this premiere has been filled with quite a bit of controversy, as we found out way back at the end of October 2022 that it will be star Henry Cavill’s last season playing Geralt of Rivia. As we prepare for The Witcher Season 3 premiere, however, the creative team has promised that it’ll be “very close to the book.”
What Did The Witcher Creative Team Say About Season 3 And The Books?
Cavill being replaced after the third season by Liam Hemsworth was a move that stunned and angered fans to the point where many signed a petition calling for the writers to be fired instead. The White Wolf himself simply said that he was “laying down my medallion and my swords,” but there has been loads of speculation that the show’s writers disliked/disrespected The Witcher books, which caused friction, many changes to the source material, and led to the premature departure. In the recently released clip shown above, however, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and executive producer Tomek Bagiński discussed the upcoming season, and said:
Schmidt Hissrich: Season 3 is mostly based on The Time of Contempt. Not only are the stories really fun and epic, I think it has some real fan-favorite moments.
Bagiński: And this time, I think the season is very, very close to the book.
Now, we’ve known since late 2021 (shortly after Season 2 hit the streamer) that the writers were largely using the second Witcher novel, The Time of Contempt, as the impetus for Season 3’s storytelling. But, as with any book-to-screen adaptation, the series had already made several changes throughout the first two seasons from the work of Andrzej Sapkowski, which it seemed that the star was less than enthused with, to the point of possibly considering exiting as Geralt right after the second season.
It seems that his final season as the character afforded him what his wish was all along, to show a version of Geralt that matched the one so beloved in the books, and with many of the “fan-favorite moments” from the novel, to boot.
These will include the events of the first novel, Blood of Elves, which will likely come in the first episode, as the title of the premiere is “Shaerrawedd,” and a scene from that episode was likely shared over the weekend, where Ciri got to show off her badass new fighting moves. That will then lead us naturally to the events of the second novel, like the explanation of Ciri's bloodline heritage and what happens to her there. Even better, we might just be getting one of Geralt’s most memorable battles during the season.
All in all, it sounds like fans will be in for a great time, and that, as promised, Season 3 really will be a “heroic sendoff” for Cavill.
