The Witcher adds a new storyline for Yennefer in season 2

Netflix is forging ahead with season 2 of The Witcher, and it looks like they’re going off-book when it comes to Yennefer (Anya Chalotra).

Now that Netflix is back to work on The Witcher, we’re seeing some official photos from the show’s upcoming second season, including new looks at Geralt (Henry Cavill), who’s fancy new armor makes his pecs look even more huge…

Image: Jay Maidment/Netflix

…and Ciri (Freya Allan), who finally into Geralt at the very end of the first season:

The Witcher season 2. Image courtesy Jay Maidment, Netflix

By the looks of it, Ciri is going to get a little more rough-and-tumble in the second season. If you’ve read Blood of Elves, the third book in Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher series, you know that Geralt is going to train her to be a witcher herself. And the official description for season 2 confirms that he’s bringing her to the witcher’s keep of Kaer Morhen:

"Convinced Yennefer’s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia brings Princess Cirilla 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."

Just earlier today, Netflix released some advance shots of Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), sorceress extraordinaire and Geralt’s on-again-off-again love interest. She did indeed fight at the Battle of Sodden and helped to push back in invading Nilfgaardian army, and it was a pitched battle, so it’s no surprise Geralt assumes she dies. There’s a whole story about this in the second book, Sword of Destiny.

But of course she isn’t dead; this series is just getting started. But the new photos surprised fans, because they didn’t expect to find her like this:

The Witcher season 2. Image courtesy Jay Maidment, Netflix

So Yennefer’s not dead. What she is is captured, although these photos don’t reveal by who. Nilfgaardians? Elves? Dryads? That does look like trees in the background of the shot above, right? Seems like somewhere elves or dryads might live.

The Witcher season 2. Image courtesy Jay Maidment, Netflix

Whoever captures Yennefer, this is unexplored territory. Sapkowski doesn’t write about anything like this happening in Sword of Destiny or Blood of Elves, so it looks like showrunner Lauren Hissrich and her team are introducing some new material for Yen to play. Most likely, they’re filling in the “blank space” between the Battle of Sodden and when Yen shows up again in Blood of Elves.

Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri aren’t the only characters coming back for season 2. Royce Pierreson, who plays the sorcerer Istredd, posted a video of himself practicing his horseback-riding for his big return:

The Witcher season 2 doesn’t have an official release date, but expect it sometime in 2021.

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