The Witcher season 3 is not coming in February 2023

Another month has passed, bringing us ever closer to the release date of The Witcher season 3 on Netflix. It’s been over a year since season 2 hit the streaming service in December 2021, and the wait has been long.

When last we saw Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), he had just saved his foster daughter Ciri (Freya Allan) from the clutches of the Deathless Mother with the help of the sorceress Yennefer (Anya Charlotra). Meanwhile, rulers, mages, elves and assassins from across the realm finally became aware that Ciri was still alive and began hatching their own plans to kill her or use her for their own ends.

But what happens next? Will Geralt and Yennefer be able to keep Ciri safe? And what of the princess’ own burgeoning magical powers; might they factor into season 3? More importantly, after the bleak response to The Witcher: Blood Origin spinoff and the news that Henry Cavill is leaving The Witcher mainline show after the upcoming season, can the show bounce back?

Let’s round up the latest dispatches from the Continent.

The Witcher season 3 release date

It should come as no surprise that we won’t find out the answer to all those questions this month; The Witcher season 3 will not be hitting Netflix in February 2023. But thankfully we do have a pretty good idea of when we’ll be watching it.

Netflix announced last year that The Witcher season 3 will premiere in summer 2023. We don’t have an exact date yet, but in a late December interview showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich said there was still around “eight-ish” months until the show’s release. So we’re expecting to see it sometime around August or September.

Hissrich also dropped a pretty big tidbit in that interview: splitting the season into two parts isn’t off the table. “We haven’t discussed that [splitting the season] yet, but at this point I think what we see happening across all sort of streamers, I wouldn’t rule it out,” Hissrich told Collider. “I do think that, obviously, we don’t put anything out that we’re not incredibly proud of. So that dictates our entire launch date. And I think it’ll be interesting. Again, we have a way still a very long time, eight-ish months or so until Witcher Season 3 comes out. So God willing, we get it all out at the same time. But who knows, we’ll see what happens.”

This would track with the way Netflix released Stranger Things season 4. It sounds like this isn’t the route the production is intending to go, but perhaps Stranger Things opened a door to a format where Netflix can get more bang for the buck out of its big series?

Regardless, we’ll be keeping one eye on Aretuza as we await more updates on The Witcher season 3.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels