Netflix’s The Witcher has shut down again. The news comes just a few days after series lead Henry Cavill revealed the show was switching to a new filming location. It also marks the second time the show had to halt production. The good news? Leads like Henry Cavill, Freya Allen, Anya Chalotra and other lead cast members do not seem to be impacted by what happened.
News broke over the weekend about The Witcher shutting down (again). The reports from the set have indicated that four people tested positive for Covid-19 when Netflix underwent its latest round of testing. However, given the aforementioned knowledge that the show’s major players have been unaffected by the diagnosed Covid carriers thus far, Netflix plans to return to filming once the subscription streamer is “confident” in the set’s safety, per Deadline.
Four days ago, series lead Henry Cavill shared a post wearing a mask and a dapper hat which noted that production on The Witcher Season 2 was leaving Yorkshire. The move was occurring due to lockdown in the U.K., though the hope was that the show would be able to continue filming in the studio. Now that studio plan is the one that has been halted.
This won’t mark the first time that The Witcher Season 2 has had to shut down. Back in March, as sets were shutting down around the world, it was confirmed that the series’ Season 2 addition Kristofer Hivju, known previously for his work on Game of Thrones, had tested positive for the disease. The show promptly shut down and didn’t start moving forward again until the summer.
Covid rescheduling has wreaked additional havoc on a lot of productions. Everything from budget growing due to safety precautions to casting have been affected by shutdowns and changes. Earlier in September, we learned The Witcher Season 2 had lost a previously cast actor set to play another Witcher due to scheduling conflicts, so we’ve seen this happen with the Netflix series before as well.
Everyone is doing the best on production teams that they can at this time, which I’d have to imagine requires a lot of flexibility. We’ll keep you updated as soon as The Witcher Season 2 gets back on track and moves forward, which does seem as if it will be sooner rather than later.
However, it is worth pointing out The Witcher is a big budget TV venture; in fact, it was always going to take a long while to film and then go through the post-production process. Now, due to delays and changes, it looks as if we won’t be seeing new episodes on Netflix until 2021, and estimates have the show returning somewhat late in the year next year as well. For now, you can take a look at what else is coming in the interim with our full schedule.
