Since Geralt of Rivia found his destiny at the end of The Witcher season 1, viewers can expect to see a lot more of little Ciri in season 2. The Witcher season 1 found massive success on Netflix - garnering roughly 76 million views within its first month of release - and viewers are clamoring for more. Unfortunately, production was only about six weeks underway when it had to shut down due to COVID-19. Thankfully, the series got a green light to start filming again on August 17. As production ramps up again, more information is coming to light about The Witcher season 2.
Season 1 followed Princess Cirilla (Freya Allen), the young royal who escaped the siege of Cintra in the series' premiere, as she's forced to a life on the run, fending for herself. Unlike the show, readers don't see a lot of Ciri in the books before she meets up with Geralt, which contributed to why many viewers initially rejected the character's on-screen portrayal. In the books (and even more so in the games), Ciri has already begun to evolve from the defenseless royal runaway viewers are introduced to in early season 1.
TVGuide spoke with showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, and she revealed her vision for Ciri's season 2 journey. Hissrich explained how Ciri's story got trimmed down in the final cut of season 1, so she wanted to devote more time to the rogue princess's character development in season 2. Lauren notes how the book skips over a crucial few months where Geralt and Ciri are getting to know each other before they reach the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen. Hissrich then disclosed that The Witcher season 2 would be exploring the ins and outs of Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri's initial bonding experience. The showrunner also teases what's to come for Ciri as she grows into a proud warrior. Read Hissrich's full comment below:
Well, what's really fun about Season 2 is that in the books, [after] Geralt and Ciri meet in that moment in Sodden … when we come back in the next book, we've actually skipped a lot of time. ... Well, we found in writing the show that we didn't actually want to skip over those first months of them getting to know each other. That's part of the fun, is to take these characters, as you say, who understand that they're each other's destiny -- not really embracing it, but accepting that this is what they need to do to continue walking through The Continent. And then see like, what would that really be like? What would it be like for two strangers to come together and feel like that's what they've been driving for for the entire season? They finally got together and then they're like, "Oh, I don't know you at all. You are a stranger."
...And for her, for Ciri, we started her journey in Season 1 really about what it would be like for a princess who's been protected her entire life to suddenly be thrust out on her own. And one of the things that I love doing in Season 1, she has this final moment where she's actually not running away from the problem. In Episode 7, she picks up this stick, literally, and charges toward the problem. And it's this slight shift in Ciri where she's not going to run anymore. And now we get to see her with that new attitude, with this kind of lovely stubbornness and grit that she's built over Season 1, but then give her a father figure who's suddenly going to start telling her what to do again.
There's a lot of material for the cast and crew to play around with in season 2, especially now that Ciri will have this new authority figure in her life after her time roughing it alone in season 1. If The Witcher season 2 plans to delve into Geralt and Ciri's bonding period, there will undoubtedly be a lot of growing pains, given Geralt's utter lack of parenting skills coupled with Ciri's leftover royal haughtiness and her newfound independence. If Geralt thought babysitting Jaskier throughout season 1 was troublesome enough, he'd better hope the strong-willed princess and loud-mouthed bard don't form an alliance of sorts in season 2.
Some fans of Sapkowski's book series and the games by CD Projekt Red were disappointed with the show's early depiction of Ciri. However, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promises viewers will see Ciri gradually transform into the witcher girl they know and love. Despite production delays, The Witcher season 2 is still projected to hit Netflix in 2021, so it won't be too much longer before the foundations of Geralt and Ciri's destined bond is further explored.
Source: TVGuide