The Witcher Season 2 Beginning Revealed

Get your first sneak peek at The Witcher Season 2.

By Tyler Pisapia | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

henry cavill

The Witcher Season 2 just gave fans a big reveal about what to expect from the premiere episode of the next chapter that’s been more than a year in the making. 

On Thursday, the Netflix Geeked Twitter account released a brief featurette in which showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich confirmed what she called the “worst kept secret” about The Witcher Season 2, which is that the first episode will be a faithful adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s A Grain of Truth short story that’s beloved by fans of the Geralt of Rivera character from the books. 

For those of you who don’t know, the character played by Henry Cavill existed on the page long before he became the subject of a best-selling video game or Netflix adaptation that will continue with The Witcher Season 2. 

It’s worth noting that episode one of The Witcher Season 2 being an adaptation of A Grain of Truth is not altogether surprising given that, as IGN notes, it was the exact title of the episode when they were released earlier this month. Hence explaining why Hissrich noted it was not exactly a terrifically kept secret. 

The original short story from Sapkowski sees Geralt and Princess Cirilla stumble upon a dilapidated manor that is inhabited by the monstrous form of a nobleman known as Nivellen. The featurette confirmed that actor Kristofer Hivju will be the man to bring Nivellen and his beast to life on the small screen. Meanwhile, The Witcher Season 2 will pick up where Season 1 left off, with Geralt taking Princess Cirilla to his childhood home in Kaer Morhen where he will be tasked with protecting her and the mysterious power she weirds from the Continent’s many elvan, human and demonic threats. 

The Witcher Season 2 seems like it will delve heavily into Geralt of Rivera’s backstory. Not only is the setting of his home pretty telling in that regard, but the new crop of episodes is going to introduce Killing Eve actor Kim Bodnia to life as Geralt’s mentor, Vessemir. That character seems like he’ll be pretty important to the series going forward given that he’s been given his very own origin story in the franchise by way of the first animated spinoff film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf

witcher season 2

The film will take palace years before Geralt makes his way into Vessemir’s life. Instead, it will focus on him as a young rogue-like Witcher who uses his fighting talents to make a bit of money. However, when he encounters a strange new monster (probably a wolf, right?) begins terrorizing a “politically fraught kingdom,” Vesemir finds himself not only taking on a new adventure and enemy but the demons of his past as well. This will likely be used to set the stage for his introduction as an older man in The Witcher Season 2.

Meanwhile, The Witcher Season 2, will act as a bit of a springboard for even more world-building by way of another spinoff series The Witcher: Blood Origin, which most recently cast martial arts staple and Gunpowder Milkshake actress Michelle Yeoh in a leading role.

Fortunately for curious fans, they won’t have to wait too much longer. After wrapping production in April, it was announced earlier this month that Netflix will begin dropping episodes on December 17, just in time for Christmas.