Netflix’s WITCHERCON Roundup – ‘The Witcher’ News, Trailers, Clips & Photos
As fans of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher‘ were probably aware, yesterday saw the streaming service launch their first virtual WITCHERCON event, featuring interviews, exclusive videos, air date announcements, and lots of other behind the scenes goodies. Here is a roundup of some of the key points.
The Witcher Season 2
First up is the main show. Along with interviewing a bunch of the cast and crew at the event, they announced a premiere date of Friday, 17th December 2021 for Season 2. They also dropped a little teaser trailer to give you a taste of what’s to come.
The official synopsis for Season 2 reads – Convinced Yennefer’s (Anya Chalotra) life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) brings Princess Cirilla (Freya Allan) to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continent’s kings, elves, humans and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, he must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.
“At the end of Season 1, we have what I think is one of the sort of most emotional scenes that we’ve done, which is Geralt and Ciri finding each other after they’ve both been searching all season… And it seems like we’ve got a father figure and daughter figure, and everything’s going to be perfect at that point, except for they’ve never met,” comments showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. “And so it was really fun to start Season 2 thinking about, well, they’re not a family yet. How do they grow to be one? What do you do if you are a person like Geralt, who has sworn he doesn’t need anyone in the world whatsoever? And then he’s presented with a girl who is now solely in his care. And we have Ciri, who’s used to being under the care of people but has basically been running from everyone for an entire season and now being told that this person is going to take care of you. And so it was really fun to start Season 2 kind of them a little uncertain about how to be with each other, and they have to really grow into that. We wanted to make sure that felt like an authentic relationship, that they weren’t just bonded at the very beginning.”
The second season sees Henry Cavill return as Geralt, along with Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Freya Allan as Ciri, Joey Batey as Jaskier, MyAnna Buring as Tissaia, Tom Canton as Filavandrel, Lilly Cooper as Murta, Jeremy Crawford as Yarpen Zigrin, Eamon Farren as Cahir, Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz, Terence Maynard as Artorius, Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor, Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla, Royce Pierreson as Istredd, Wilson Mbomio as Dara, Anna Shaffer as Triss, and Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina.
Joey Batey as the irrepressible Jaskier singing his heart out!
They are joined by new cast Yasen Atour as Coen, Agnes Born as Vereena, Paul Bullion as Lambert, Basil Eidenbenz as Eskel, Aisha Fabienne Ross as Lydia, Kristofer Hivju as Nivellen, Mecia Simson as Francesca, Kim Bodnia as Vesemir, Adjoa Andoh as Nenneke, Cassie Clare as Phillippa Eilhart, Simon Callow as Codringher, Liz Carr as Fenn, Graham McTavish as Dijkstra, Kevin Doyle as Ba’lian, and Chris Fulton as Rience.
Cirilla and Lambert together at Kaer Morhen.
“There are so many characters that we’re introducing in Season 2,” continues Hissrich. “We are getting to see Dijkstra for the first time and sort of the Redanian Kingdoms. I know a lot of fans are excited to meet Philippa for the first time, Codringher and Fenn, Rience, Nenneke. There’s so many, but I would have to say Vesemir is the one I’m looking most forward to our audience meeting. Vesemir is so integral to the story that we’re telling this season. Obviously, we’re returning to Kaer Morhen for the first time, and in a season that is about Geralt becoming a father to Ciri, it felt so important to meet who his father figure was. And you end up with this multigenerational story because Vesemir and Ciri have a story as well, and it does start to feel like, “Oh, all of these people are meant to be interacting and learning from each other and fighting with each other.”
Kaer Morhen is, of course, the “home” of the Witchers, and with Ciri now there and under Geralt’s care, that means she is going to need some training. “[Training] was one of the things I was most excited about for Season 2, because I love doing all that,” commented Freya Allan. “I love the stunt department. We have the best people involved, and they’re so much fun and get the best out of you. But yes, Ciri begins training and it actually becomes one of her main kind of drives. She’s very determined, and she really wants to become a great fighter and become a Witcher.”
Geralt and Ciri on Roach
Speaking on the evolution of Geralt in the new season Henry Cavill commented “I played the season one way deliberately, which was him out in the wilds and without the opportunity for vast swathes of dialogue. I thought it best to be the man who says less because that seems like he’s thinking more. And that was the intention with that. But once you get into a scenario with Cirilla, and the Witchers and his home space and with those people who he already knows, I was of the opinion that you had to let him be verbose and be philosophical and speak more and be intellectual, because that’s what he is. He’s not just a big old white-haired brute.”
Geralt isn’t the only character going through some changes this season. Both Ciri and Yennefer find themselves in very different environments from season one, and in the following video, Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan reflect on Yennefer and Ciri’s journeys so far and the paths each will take in the new season:
“I’d have to say, where there’s a will, there’s a way with her,” commented Anya Chalotra on Yennefer. “She is a survivor, and I love that about her. That would be my favourite. But there’s lots, there’s many traits I love. We’ve become quite similar. We form each other, I think.”
If all that wasn’t enough, and you want even more of a hint on what is to come, they also released the names of (most) of episode titles:
Episode 1 – A Grain of Truth
Episode 2 – Kaer Morhen
Episode 3 – What Is Lost
Episode 4 – Redanian Intelligence
Episode 5 – Turn Your Back
Episode 6 – Dear Friend
Episode 7 – Voleth Meir
Episode 8 – [REDACTED]
The Witcher Season 2 – Behind The Scenes
For those of you who would like to know more about how the world of ‘The Witcher’ is created, they released a number of “Behind The Scenes” videos covering various aspects of production. As they say, “It takes a village to build the Continent…”
In the first video, Master Armourer Nick Jeffries takes you behind the scenes of the armoury department and some key weapons of the series.
The next video I love… It’s a very entertaining behind the scenes insight from Matt Fraser and Dan Gregory, aka the never seen or heard “people in green”, the puppeteers behind the new and favourite monsters on the show.
The last video features Ashruti Patel, who deals with one of the smallest costuming pieces on the series, but also one of the most intricate. She is on set as Contact Lens Tech.
‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’ Anime Film
If getting one spin-off series wasn’t enough, with the previously announced live-action prequel ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’, they also revealed a new anime film ‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’, which premieres Monday, 23rd August 2021.
The animated movie comes from Studio Mir (‘Legend of Korra’, ‘Voltron: Legendary Defender’), and focuses on Geralt’s friend and mentor Vesemir, but is set long before the two characters meet. It tells the story of Vesemir as a cocky young witcher who delights in slaying monsters for coin. When a dangerous new power rises on the Continent, Vesemir learns that some witchering jobs are about more than just money…
So that’s a round-up of the key points from WITCHERCON, however, if you would like to watch the entire (nearly) 3hr stream, you can find it here.
Those key dates again:
‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’ film premieres Monday, 23rd August 2021 on Netflix UK and worldwide.
‘The Witcher‘ Season 2 premieres Friday, 17th December 2021 on Netflix UK and worldwide.
No news yet on when ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin‘ will premiere, but it will be a six-part, live-action, limited series when it does land. If you want to keep track of this show you can add it via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
