Season 3 has stuff that no one has “read or seen before in Witcher lore”

The first season of The Witcher debuted on Netflix in 2019. It (more or less) adapted the first two books in Andrzej Sapkowski Witcher series — The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny — and was mostly well-received by fans and newcomers alike. And a new franchise is born!

Well, maybe. The second season adapted the book Blood of Elves, and fans had a lot more problems with it. Many complained about the fact that much of the story was brand new, to the point where it could only marginally be said to be an adaptation of Sapkowski’s work at all. Yennefer might sacrifice Ciri to retain her magical powers? Who is Voleth Meir? It was weird.

Season 3 is on its way this year. It will be the last season with Henry Cavill in the lead role of Geralt of Rivia. After that, he’ll be replaced by Liam Hemsworth. No one knows quite why Cavill left, but word is that he was upset with how far the show was straying from the source material. And based on a new interview with a couple of the special effects pros working on the show, that’s going to continue in season 3.

The Witcher on Netflix is “separate from the video game or separate from the books”

Speaking to Screen Rant, VFX supervisor Sébastien Francoeur and producer Graeme Marshall talked about what’s coming on The Witcher. “[W]e’re working on some pretty tasty stuff for the next season,” Marshall said. “We’re at the point where we’re showing the creative team now, and they’re being wowed by the stuff we’re showing them, so that’s cool.”

"As far as season 4 is concerned, we haven’t really gotten too heavily involved just yet. But with season 3, we’re in the throes of delivering the final couple of episodes on that, and it’s super cool. I don’t think it’s anything that anyone’s read or seen before in Witcher lore, so I think it’s gonna be exciting."

Keep in mind that these guys are special effects pros and basically do what they’re told by the creative team; they’re not in the writers’ room or anything. But it sounds like that creative team is intent on separating itself from both Sapkowski’s books and the popular Witcher video games by CD Projekt RED, shooting down pitches that would have brought the show closer in line with the games. “We were referencing pretty much one for one some of the magic, and they were like, ‘No, we can’t, we don’t want to go down that road,'” Marshall said. “I think there’s a lot of fans of one or the other and you don’t upset one without doing something that the other likes, etc. So, they were very careful about keeping it true to the lore, true to the realm, true to The Witcher.”

"I feel like this is where they’re separate from the video game or separate from the books is kind of allowing them to explore other storylines and other places and things like that. I think that’s working well for them so far. It’s different from watching a show like The Last of Us, in which the first episode is the beginning of the video game. Whereas with this, I think there’s a lot of creative license to stay similar and true to certain parts and enable them to explore different parts as well…It’s like the novels are the guidebook, but not the Bible by any means."

Netflix’s Witcher show needs to stick closer to the source material or there will just be more problems

Now, I have no problem with the idea of changing source material when it’s appropriate, nor do I think that Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels are unimpeachable masterpieces that must be followed to the letter. But given the response to The Witcher season 2 (not to mention the disaster that was the prequel show Blood Origin), I’m not so sure that changing the books this drastically is “working well for them so far.” If I were The Witcher writers, I would think about sticking closer to what’s already there, cause the Venn diagram for “worst parts of The Witcher show” and “stuff the writers made up themselves” is pretty much a circle.

By the way, Marshall and Francoeur are aware that stuff like Blood Origin hasn’t gone over well with fans, but again, they aren’t writers; they’re just doing their jobs, although it’s still not fun to see that kind of reaction. “It’s always cool to have a good response at the end when you spend so much effort, it’s just a bit sad when everybody’s not liking it but, I don’t take it too personally,” Francoeur said.

And that’s probably a good thing, because I suspect that some fans will be nettled again when The Witcher season 3 comes out on Netflix this summer…

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