Here are all The Witcher season 3 updates viewers need to know about. The first season of The Witcher was the most successful debut of a Netflix original show to date. Following Henry Cavill's The Witcher performance, nobody was surprised when it was renewed for a second season. Despite production delays due to the pandemic, The Witcher season 2 continued the story of Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, and their friends and foes. The Witcher season 3 is due in June 2023 and will build even more upon the arcs established in seasons 1 and 2 despite it being Henry Cavill's final outing as Geralt.Netflix announced The Witcher's renewal for a third season at September 2022's TUDUM event. The Witcher is based on the popular fantasy books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and like the books, it's been changing story structure with each season. The first wave of short stories by Sapkowski hopped around the timeline with impunity, and season 1 honored that. However, with season 2, the show has committed itself to the overarching narrative of Sapkowski's longer stories. Based on The Witcher season 3 teaser trailer, this will likely continue next season. Here's everything else that's been revealed about the future of Geralt of Rivia, and all other relevant The Witcher season 3 updates so far
The Latest Witcher Season 3 News
Thanks to the Netflix Tudum event, the most recent The Witcher season 3 updates include a huge look at a massive fight scene from the upcoming season. The release also included Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, and Joey Batey taking the stage to help premiere the exclusive first look at the new season. This preview was an almost three-minute video that showed Cirilla of Cintra (Allan), Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), and Yennefer of Vengerber (Chalotra) battling Rience. In the scene, they use their combined powers to defeat the Viscount de Lettenhove and his group of fighters.
In this exclusive The Witcher season 3 footage, Rience attacks Ciri as the fire mage once again attempts to kidnap the princess. This brings in Yeneffer with her magic and Geralt with his relentless sword-fighting skills to help even the field. However, as expected, Ciri was not defenseless as she was able to hold her own thanks to her training with the Witchers. The footage was also impressive since Geralt was able to combine his own magic with his swordplay. At the event, Cavill was more than gracious with his comments toward his fellow cast members as well (via MSN).
"It was such a pleasure and honor to be working with you guys. You guys bring so much nuance and detail to these characters which are often at risk of being oversimplified. And what you guys have done with the characters has involved work, care, and effort. And believe me, working with you guys was the biggest pleasure. So, I just want to say I'm going to miss you."
The Witcher Season 3 Release Date Info
Several key The Witcher season 3 updates were revealed in the teaser trailer for the next season. For starters, the trailer confirmed that The Witcher season 3 will be split into two volumes. Netflix also revealed the respective release dates of The Witcher season 3's two separate parts, which is notably in line with showrunners' initial promise of releasing Henry Cavill's last stint as Geralt of Rivia in the summer of 2023:
- The Witcher season 3, Volume 1 (episodes 1-5) release date: June 29, 2023
- The Witcher season 3, Volume 2 (episodes 6-8) release date: July 27, 2023
The Witcher Season 3 Cast (As We Know It)
The main actors will be reprising their roles for The Witcher season 3 cast, including Henry Cavill's The Witcher protagonist Geralt of Rivia for one final season, Freya Allan's Ciri, Anya Chalotra's Yennefer, and Joey Batey's Jaskier. Although the party will leave Kaer Morhen, meaning the other witchers likely won't appear, key politicians and sorcerers will certainly return — including Anna Shaffer's Triss, Graham McTavish's Djikstra, and Mahesh Jadu's Vilgefortz, whose secret history will be revealed in the third season. The elven subplot will undoubtedly continue, while Mimi Ndiweni's Fringilla and Eamon Farren's Cahir the Black Knight should return as well.
Bart Edwards will also be reprising his role as Emhyr/Duny/White Flame. Curiously, The Witcher season 3 trailer also revealed the return of Vilgefortz's apprentice, the fire mage Rience, whom Yennefer and Geralt know by a more endearing nickname related to his love of fire. This time, however, Rience won't be played by Chris Fulton who first portrayed the character in The Witcher season 2, and will instead be played by Sam Woolf — as seen in the trailer. Cassie Clare's Philippa Eilhart, Tom Canton's Filavandrel, and Mecia Simson's Francesca appeared in the trailer as well. MyAnna Buring's Tissaia de Vries is also confirmed to return, alongside the rest of The Witcher's supporting cast:
- Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor
- Ed Birch as King Vizimir II
- Wilson Mbomio as Dara
- Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevissig
- Terence Maynard as Artorius Vigo
- Jeremy Crawford as Yarpen Zigrin
- Liz Carr as Fenn
- Royce Pierreson as Istredd
- Kaine Zajaz as Gage
- Simon Callow as Ellis Codringher
The Witcher Season 3 Is Henry Cavill's Last
In October 2022, Henry Cavill's Witcher exit was announced by the actor himself through an Instagram post, confirming that The Witcher season 3 will be his last. Cavill also endorsed the show's new Geralt of Rivia: The Hunger Games actor Liam Hemsworth. Here's what Henry Cavill said via Instagram:
My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4. In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.
This was largely met by backlash aimed at showrunners, with rumors that Cavill left because he was unhappy with the treatment of Sapkowski's books, or that Cavill was fired by Netflix. Showrunners have since denied these rumors. In fact, The Witcher showrunner Lauren Hissrich has even promised to give Henry Cavill a proper and "heroic sendoff" in his last stint as Geralt in The Witcher season 3 cast. Out of all The Witcher season 3 updates, Cavill's exit saddened long-time viewers the most. That said, it's not all bad news.
The backlash on Liam Hemsworth replacing Henry Cavill is strong in some parts of the world of online discussion. However, when it comes to the showrunner, these The Witcher season 3 updates are not anything that really bothers him. He came out and defended the recasting and is excited out Hemsworth's upcoming portrayal of Geralt of Rivia. Lauren Schmidt Hissrich spoke out in an interview about why they recast Geralt and what the plans are for the world of The Witcher on Netflix.
"We had the choice to have Geralt exit and to end the show. [But] that's not something that we were willing to do. There's just too many stories left to tell. If we replaced Geralt with another Witcher, we would be going fully away from the books, and I don't think that's what anyone wanted either."
The big thing that many fans want to see is for Henry Cavill to return as Geralt. However, that wasn't going to happen. With Cavill determined to leave, that gave the showrunners three options. One was to end the show. The second was to bring in a new Witcher. The third was to recast the role. Since they wanted to continue to follow the path of the books, they chose the recasting and Hissrich seems excited about the possibilities — "We're all excited about Liam coming in. He's got enormous shoes to fill, but also has a lot of energy and a lot of excitement for it."
The Witcher Season 3 Story Details
The Witcher season 3 updates indicate the story will be based on Andrzej Sapkowski's second Witcher Saga novel Time of Contempt, in which the political intrigue at Thanedd Island erupts into an open coup, with Geralt of Rivia drawn into the thick of it. Yennefer's attempts to train Ciri in magic go badly wrong, ultimately leading to Ciri being separated from her guardians. Additionally, Cahil's arc moved in an unexpected direction when he becomes allied with Geralt the Witcher rather than opposed to him. Netflix's official The Witcher season 3 synopsis, as expected, confirms that Geralt will take Cintra into hiding, and with Yennefer's help, will be busy evading beasts, monarchs, mages, and the Wild Hunt.
Notably, The Witcher season 2 adapted Blood of Elves but didn't follow it exactly, while also revealing the truth about Ciri's parentage a lot more quickly than Sapkowski's novels. The Netflix TV series is clearly willing to deviate from the books on occasion, which has been a major point of contention from long-time readers of the books and other audience members calling for the series to stay truer to Sapkowski's original vision. In any case, it's safe to say that the third season will continue to hinge on the overarching narrative of Emhyr/Duny's search for his daughter.
Some new images were released that revealed some The Witcher season 3 updates. There were two images, with the first showing Yennefer walking away from Geralt. As he watches her leave, he appears to be pulling out his weapon. The second sees Geralt in a hood standing next to Yennefer, who has on a lace mask. This takes place as they witness Beltane, a fertility celebration. Since this is the end of the road for Cavill's Witcher, and since it was shown that Geralt is leaving his role as a Witcher at the end of the season, it remains to be seen how this affects Yennefer.
The Witcher Season 3 Trailer
The first The Witcher season 3 trailer dropped on April 25, 2023. It serves as the official first look at the end of Henry Cavill's run on the show, with Geralt downing a potion, drawing his sword, and saying "Now, for the first time, I understand real fear." Adding to the third season's sense of finality are the words "Everything changes" appearing onscreen, juxtaposed with scenes of Ciri fleeing from the Wild Hunt, Geralt fighting Rience (who's been recast), and Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri trying to find each other in some kind of labyrinth. If The Witcher season 3 will follow the events in the book Time of Contempt, Geralt could go be going up against a Manticore.
Combined with the Wild Hunt seemingly catching up to Ciri, the third season also seems to be headed towards adapting Ciri and Geralt's eventual reunion in Hirundum. Meanwhile, Francesca and Filavandrel can be seen behind Yennefer as she casts a spell toward them, which likely involves the two's attempts at capturing Ciri themselves. As for Jaskier, he seems to be at the mercy of the sorceress Philippa, who's come to collect Jaskier's debts to Redanian Intelligence.
Most crucially, the new The Witcher season 3 trailer and posters gave fans their first look at Henry Cavill's final outing playing Geralt. It's been known since late 2022 that Geralt would be recast after season 4, with Liam Hemsworth stepping into the role. However, knowing this would be the last time a new Henry Cavill The Witcher season would be debuted was still a bittersweet moment for many fans online. The end of the trailer also revealed two release dates for The Witcher season 3: June 29, 2023, for Volume 1, and July 27, 2023, for Volume 2. As the release dates draw near, more The Witcher season 3 updates are bound to drop soon.
A new The Witcher season 3 trailer arrived on June 8, and it showed a lot more of what fans can expect from the upcoming season, which will mark Henry Cavill's final on the series. The new trailer is set to a version of Radiohead's "Burn the Witch" and shows several events from the new season. The Wild Hunt is out to capture Ciri, but as Geralt said, he won't leave her side and will protect her at all costs, alongside Yennefer.
The trailer also gives a look at Geralt's plan for neutrality, which won't award Ciri with a statue but will help keep her alive. However, as Jaskier tells Geralt, neutrality has consequences, and he ominously agrees. That led to some amazing fight scenes in the trailer, showing that Geralt might have preferred neutrality in the past, but in The Witcher season 3, he has no choice but to fight because, as Ciri said, "We're Witchers."