The Witcher showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich discussed what fans might expect from the upcoming season of the fantasy series and Henry Cavill's final outing as Geralt of Rivia.
Netflix's The Witcher, the adaptation of the books by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski, has seen an up-and-down run almost since the beginning. When fantasy fan Cavill was announced as Geralt of Rivia, most people welcomed the news, but the subsequent run of the series has seen some enjoying and some at odds. With Cavill's departure after The Witcher season 3, the showrunners are promising a heroic exit for the beefy and beloved action star.
The series writers, who haven’t always been as faithful to the Witcher source material as they should’ve been, now point to taking heavily from the fourth book, Time of Contempt, for the arc of the third season. Hissrich told Entertainment Weekly, “What is so interesting is that season 3, to me, is the closest thing that we've done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books.” As to how this affects Cavill, she said, “Geralt's big turn is about giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri. And to me, it's the most heroic sendoff that we could have, even though it wasn't written to be that.” After that, she says, Geralt goes through some changes, like turning into Liam Hemsworth, Cavill's replacement for the fourth season.
Cavill graciously, if ponderously, passed the torch onto Hemsworth, and Hemsworth praised Cavill's chops and what he has done with the character so far. As far as the rest of the Witcher franchise, despite these speed bumps, the team has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Hissrich said, “We have plans to keep this going in various permutations. I love the mothership, I'm going to stick to it [...]. I hope that this doesn't end for a while. So I think the possibilities are endless, and we'll see what happens."
When The Witcher season 3 finally releases, it won’t just be a season of change for the cast, it’ll be one for Netflix to see if audiences stick around. However, fans of Cavill will see him on their TV screen again. The star, lured away by a wink and a smile from DC to return as Superman, saw that deal fall through. He’s now signed on to produce and star in an adaptation of Warhammer 40k.
The Witcher season 3 is in production.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
