‘The Witcher’ Season 2: Everything We Learned From the EP And Stars

Toss a coin to your witcher because he comes bearing news. Today at the Television Critics Association’s 2021 summer tour, showruner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and stars Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan broke down what fans can expect from The Witcher Season 2. The bottom line? Hissrich has been paying attention to what you loved and what you hated from her first season, and she’s made some major changes.

If you haven’t seen The Witcher yet, stop reading this and go watch it. You’re truly robbing yourself of Henry Cavill at his best and moodiest. The horror-fantasy series follows Geralt (Cavill), who works as a monster hunter for hire known as a witcher. Throughout Geralt’s life, he’s been trained to stay on the fence and keep his head down, not concerning himself with the dramas of men, elves, and sorcerers. But when he becomes connected to a young orphaned princess, Freya Allan’s Ciri, and a powerful sorceress, Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer, that disconnection changes. It’s a found family story wrapped around a saga about the fate of a mystical world known as The Continent.

And thanks to Netflix, we have a better understanding of what’s to come. Here’s your crash course on the biggest takeaways about The Witcher Season 2 from the panel:

• • The Witcher team made the most of their COVID hiatus. Season 2 was only three weeks into production when it was shut down due to the global pandemic. Though that was certainly a blow to morale, Hissrich and her team found a way to make the most of it. “We really got the chance to look at the scripts as a whole,” Hissrich said. This extra time allowed them to make sure the stories weren’t completely reliant on action. “The promise of the show is family coming together… we wanted to make sure we had enough moments to show their emotional connections.”
  • Jaskier will sing again in Season 2. One of the biggest breakouts in Season 1 was “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher”, Jaskier’s (Joey Batey) ear worm of a song. Don’t worry, bard fans. There will be more music in December. “Jaskier’s obviously back in Season 2, and we have some pretty great songs,” Hissrich said, before adding, “Let’s just say that one of the songs is a great moment for Anya’s character.” Since Yennefer and Dandelion (the novel’s name for Jaskier) have a pseudo alliance in the novels, that’s a promising tease.
  • There will be more of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer together this season. Hissrich has always been open about listening to fan reactions to her series. During The Witcher‘s panel, she even said she considers listening to fans as “part of her job.” And what fans want is more of this mismatched family. “People really want to see more of Ciri and Geralt together, Geralt and Yennefer together,” Hissrich said.
  • Those crazy timelines are a thing of the past. Speaking of fan reactions, one of the most divisive parts of Season 1 was its three alternating timelines. “The timelines were one of my favorite things from Season 1,” Hissrich said. “We’re not going to play with time as much in Season 2.”
  • Ciri’s story will unfold differently than other characters. Just because the official timeline will be more linear, that doesn’t mean the team is leaning into boring storytelling devices. Hissrich revealed that Ciri’s story will play out a bit differently than other characters and will “play back and forth in her head.” “We make sure we’re not telling the simplest version of this story. We want to tell the best version,” Hissrich said.
  • We’re going to learn what happened to Yennefer after the Battle of Sodden. Yennefer’s (Chalotra) fate directly after the Battle of Sodden is something that has plagued fans for years. Season 2 will finally address this leg of Yennefer’s story. “After her victory in the Battle of Sodden, she’s captured whereabouts unknown and she has to survive being a prisoner of war,” Chalotra revealed. “What’s lovely is that we established her background in Season 1 and now, I think, the choices she makes in Season 2 resonate a lot more.”
  • Yennefer will meet Ciri this season. We were hoping, but Chalotra confirmed it. This surrogate family will come together this season.
  • Yennefer’s story will be about self-exploration. Both Hissrich and Chalotra emphasized that the end of Season 1 takes a toll on Yennefer that changes her going forward. “You really see those changes this season”, Chalotra said. “She makes some unlikely alliances, and those alliances really change her way of thinking.”
  • This season will dive into the complicated emotions of Ciri and Geralt’s relationship. Get ready for one heck of a lone wolf dad and overpowered pup story. “Ciri is lacking trust in people generally, and Geralt is trying to understand who this girl is he’s looking after now,” Allan said. “It was great fun getting to explore that.”
  • Season 2 will finally see Ciri fight. You can’t be a witcher without investing in some training. And in Season 2, Ciri does a whole lot of that. “Part of the journey between Geralt and Ciri this season is one that involves training,” Hissrich said. “My favorite thing about this season is that Ciri plants her feet and starts to fight back.” Learning to fight back required some actual training on Allan’s behalf. The actor would send Hissrich videos of herself learning to sword fight.
  • The Witcher hasn’t been renewed for a Season 3. “There has been no formal renewal. Right now, my focus is on Season 2,” Hissrich said. At the time of publication, Season 2 was wrapping up post production in Los Angeles and London. “That is honestly where all our focus is right now because we need a great Season 2 if we have a hope of Season 3.”
  • But Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is willing to lead this show for 20 seasons. Just because Netflix hasn’t given the official green light, that doesn’t mean The Witcher’s creator isn’t ready. The showrunner revealed that she would be happy to do 20 seasons of the show. “I will be here as long as fans keep showing up and wanting to watch,” Hissrich said.

The Witcher Season 2 will premiere December 17, 2021 on Netflix.

Watch The Witcher on Netflix