Netflix's The Witcher is set in a fantasy world called The Continent and is based on a series of books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, but the Henry Cavill-starring TV series was actually filmed in various locations around Europe. The bulk of the filming took place in Hungary, with the production later moving to the Canary Islands, and some scenes were shot in Poland and Australia.
Debuting on Netflix at the start of 2020, The Witcher season 1 spans several decades and follows three principal characters: Geralt of Rivia, a monster-killer for hire with special abilities gained from gruelling training and magical experimentation in his youth; Yennefer of Vengerberg, a woman from humble beginnings who becomes a powerful sorceress; and Princess Ciri, the Lion Cub of Cintra, who is forced to flee her home when a conquering army raids the castle and slaughters her family.
Adapted for TV for Lauren S. Hissrich, The Witcher was a major hit for Netflix and was renewed for season 2 even before the first season released. Unfortunately, filming on The Witcher season 2 was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the series looks likely to resume filming this summer. Here are all the filming locations for The Witcher season 1, and what we know so far about season 2's production plans.
The Witcher Season 1 Filming Locations
Though much of The Witcher season 1 was filmed on location, there were also a number of sets built at two different studios near Budapest, Hungary: Mafilm Studios and Origo Studios. Hungary is currently a very attractive place to film due to tax credits offered by the Hungarian government; other recent major productions filmed there include Blade Runner 2049, Black Widow, Terminator: Dark Fate and Dune. The sound stage at Origo Studios was used for the Cintra castle interior featured in The Witcher episode 4, "Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials." And while the village of Blaviken in The Witcher's first episode, "The Butcher of Blaviken," might look like it was filmed on location, the exterior of Stregobor's home is actually a set that was built at Mafilm Studios. Much of the interior scenes in season 1 were also shot at Mafilm.
The exteriors for The Witcher season 1 took the crew all over Europe. The outside of Cintra's castle and the nearby forest scenes were filmed at Fort Monostor, a 19th century fortification in Hungary. Scenes in Yennefer's home village of Vengerberg and some scenes with Ciri on her journey were shot at the Skanzen Village Museum, a collection of historically-styled homes and artifacts assembled in an open-air museum in Hungary. Exteriors of the castle in Vizima, "Betrayer Moon," were filmed in neighboring Austria, in a castle called Burg Kreuzenstein.
A considerable amount of filming for The Witcher season 1 also took place in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago located off the west coast of North Africa. The wide shots of Aretuza, where Yennefer trains to become a sorceress, feature CGI buildings built up over real shots of an islet called Roque de Santo Domingo. Scenes in Brokilon Forest, where Ciri meets a tribe of dryads, were filmed in the jungles of La Palma. Most of the dragon-hunting in episode 6, "Rare Species," was also filmed on La Palma. Where The Witcher required desert scenes, such as Yennefer's ill-fated escort of a young queen and a vision of Ciri in the desert, these were filmed on the island of Gran Canaria.
Where The Witcher season 1 really brings things home, however, is in the season finale, "Much More." The Battle of Sodden was filmed at the ruins of Ogrodzieniec Castle in Poland. Rather appropriately for a show about hunting monsters, the castle is said to be haunted by the Black Dog of Ogrodzieniec, a terrible ghostly hound that can be seen roaming the grounds at night, dragging a heavy chain behind it.
The Witcher Season 2 Filming Locations
The nature of The Witcher's story means that its characters rarely stay in one location for too long, and season 2 of the Netflix series will be filming in several new locations around Europe. Redanian Intelligence reports that the bulk of filming will take place at Arborfield Studios, west of London, where a massive set for the town of Oxenfurt has already been built on one of the backlots. The Hook reports that the other major filming locations for The Witcher season 2 will be Scotland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Per The Scotsman, earlier this year The Witcher director Stephen Surjik shared photos from a location scouting trip on the island of Skye, in the Scottish highlands.