The Witcher Season 1 – Picture: Katalin Vermes / Netflix
The Witcher season 1 is releasing on Netflix on December 20th and if you’re looking for the lowdown of everything you need to know before diving in, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s an up-to-date guide to all the trailers, plot, cast names and more of one of Netflix’s biggest shows to date.
Let’s kick off with the key details you need to know about season 1 of The Witcher.
- Season 1 releases on Netflix worldwide on December 20th, 2019
- Eight episodes of The Witcher will arrive all at once on Netflix.
- Season 2 has already been renewed.
Now, let’s take a deep dive into everything we know about The Witcher season 1 on Netflix.
What’s The Witcher on Netflix about?
The Witcher is a fantasy-drama series based on the novels of the same name by author Andrezj Sapkowski.
The famous fantasy franchise rose to prominence thanks to The Witcher video game series adapted from the novels by CD Projekt Red. Netflix’s announcement that they would make an adaptation of the series was met with great intrigue with many excited to see an adaptation of a beloved franchise but has left many video game fans apprehensive about the upcoming series.
There are currently 8 Witcher novels that have been published since 1993:
Chronological Story Order
- The Last Wish (1993)
- Sword of Destiny (1992)
- Blood of Elves (1994)
- Time of Contempt (1995)
- Baptism of Fire (1996)
- The Tower of the Swallow (1997)
- The Lady of the Lake (1999)
- Season of Storms (2013)
The official synopsis for The Witcher is the following:
Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
Who’s starring in The Witcher on Netflix?
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia
The main star of The Witcher is Henry Cavill who’s mostly known for his role in the DC Universe playing Superman. Geralt is a Witcher who is essentially a monster hunter. Put through dangerous trials when he was young, Geralt is feared because of his mutations incurred.
When speaking about the role for the Netflix series, Henry Cavill said:
“I am a fan of the books and I thought Andrzej did an incredible job. There is something about the way he wrote the characters that was emotionally touching.”
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Riveria – Picture: Katalin Vermes / Netflix
Freya Allan as Ciri and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer
Anya and Freya are both set to play important female roles in the series.
Ciri is the Princess of Cintra who serves as the granddaughter of Queen Calanthe and has been described by Freya as “inspiring and complex, having gone from a secure home, with people around her to being suddenly dropped into a very brutal world, experiencing huge loss in just one night.”
Meanwhile, Yennefer of Vengerberg is played by Anya Chalotra
Other Cast Members in The Witcher on Netflix
Here’s a table breakdown of all the other cast members set to appear in The Witcher and where you’ve seen them before.
| Role in The Witcher | Actor/Actress | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Triss | Anna Shaffer | Harry Potter, Class, Hollyoaks |
| Jaskier | Joey Batey | The White Queen, Knightfall, Strike |
| Princess Renfri | Emma Appleton | The End of the F***ing World | Clique | Grantchester |
| Tissaia | MyAnna Buring | Kill LISt, The Descent, Doomsday |
| Filavandrel | Tom Canton | Death Comes to Pemberley, Wasted, Richard III |
| Cahir | Eamon Farren | Chained, Twin Peaks, X: Night of Vengeance |
| Eist | Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson | Homecoming, The Borgias, You’re Killing Me Susana |
| Queen Calanthe | Jodhi May | The Last of the Mohicans, Sister my Sister, A World Apart |
| Stregobor | Lars Mikkelsen | House of Cards, The Killing, Headhunter |
Production History of The Witcher on Netflix
According to IMDbPRO, the show has been in development in some way or another since November 2015.
Who’s behind the show? Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is the showrunner for Netflix’s The Witcher. She’s had involvement in many huge titles over the past few years including many that can be found on Netflix. She produced two of Marvel shows for Netflix including Daredevil and The Defenders miniseries. Beyond that, some of her other credits include The Umbrella Academy, Power, Parenthood, Private Practice, Justice and The West Wing.
On August 25, 2017, Lauren Hissrich pitched the show to Netflix at Netflix’s Los Angeles headquarters and as you’ve probably guessed, Netflix approved. Production on a series, however, had been announced by Netflix in May 2017.
In June 2018, Lauren Hissrich revealed that casting had begun on season 1 of The Witcher. In a long post on Instagram, she revealed how the process of casting for The Witcher is different from other series saying:
Normally, when casting a show, the casting director pulls character-specific scenes from the pilot script for actors’ auditions. However, because we’re casting internationally (which means lots of emails and self-tapes) and because we know by now the internet keeps no secrets — the writing staff has instead created entirely new scenes for our main characters. These are written to illustrate the precise tone, vibe, depth, and emotional resonance we need from Geralt and friends… but voila! They are spoiler-free, for us and for you. Which means — if you start seeing Witcher scenes floating around the internet in the coming weeks — yes, they’re probably real! But no, they won’t give anything away as to the stories we’re telling, or the ways we’re telling them. You’re safe. For now.
And hells yes, his name is Jaskier.
Filming officially concluded on the 29th of May as multiple members from the cast and crew took to social media in celebration. The showrunner of the series Lauren S. Hissrich confirmed the wrap up with a post on her Instagram page.
A series of on-set photos were leaked recently during filming on the Canary Islands.
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Recent photographs have even given us a first look at what the Nolfgaardian army will look like:
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- Nilfgaardian Armor The Witcher Netflix
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In May 2019, we got the first glimpse of The Witcher’s logo.
The Witcher Logo was spotted in a video at the cast and crews party for Season 1’s completion.
Filming locations for The Witcher include Budapest in Hungary and the Canary Islands which are part of Spain. The castle portions of the series are filmed at Ogrodzieniec and Slaskie in Poland. In addition, additional filming has taken place in New York City, New York.
All The Trailers for Season 1 of The Witcher
The first teaser released at SDCC 2019 on July 19th, 2019. It was 2 minutes long and showed of Henry Cavill in his new role as The Witcher.
The first trailer was released on Netflix on Halloween (October 31st, 2019) which gave us a deep dive into the world and what to expect.
The final trailer (which is shorter than both the teaser and the first trailer) released on Netflix a couple of weeks before the series is due out. You can find an excellent breakdown of the final trailer of The Witcher from the folks at Redanian Intelligence.
Episode Names for Season 1 of The Witcher
- Episode 101 – “The End’s Beginning” – Written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
- Episode 102 – “Four Marks” – Written by Jenny Klein
- Episode 103 – “Betrayer Moon” – Written by Beau DeMayo
- Episode 104 – “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials” – Written by Declan de Barra
- Episode 105 – “Bottled Appetites” – Written by Sneha Koorse
- Episode 106 – “Rare Species” – Written by Haily Hall
- Episode 107 – “Before a Fall” – Written by Mike Ostrowski
- Episode 108 – “Much More” – Written by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
Other bits of information you need to know about The Witcher season 1
- Episodes will be roughly an hour-long in length.
- When casting for The Witcher, it’s been reported that no Game of Thrones actors or actresses would be considered. Despite this, there are three actors including Vladimir ‘Furdo’ Furdik (played the Night King on Game of Thrones), Rebecca Benson (played Talla Tarly) and Jodhi May (played Maggy) who all featured on GoT.
- The Witcher will share the same VFX studio that worked on Avengers: End Game and Game of Thrones who recently got new funding recently.
- In an interview with Rich Eisen, Henry Cavill revealed he’d spend two hours every morning in make-up to prepare for his role. He also said he’s got another look which takes 2 and 1/2 hours to prepare for. Also in the interview, he revealed he’s a huge fan of the third video game and sought out to play the role of Geralt.
Will there be a season 2 of The Witcher on Netflix?
A second season was officially renewed by Netflix back in November 2019 around a month before season 1 was even due to release. For anyone that follows Netflix releases, you’ll know early season renewals like this are rare.
Season 2 of The Witcher has been lined up for filming in February 2020 with the series once again expected to film in Budapest and London.
The bad news regarding season 2 is the wait in time between seasons 1 & 2. Season 2 is not due to release on Netflix until 2021.
Are you looking forward to The Witcher on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
Netflix Synopsis: "As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where they hope to uncover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line – or risk losing each other forever.
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