SEASON OF THE WITCHER

AS THE UNIVERSE OF ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI’S CREATIONS EXPANDS ON SCREEN, THE WITCHER’S GERALT EMBRACES HIS DESTINY IN SEASON TWO OF THE FLAGSHIP SERIES

- BRYAN CAIRNS

THERE’S NO ESCAPING YOUR destiny. No one knows that better than Geralt of Rivia, as portrayed by Henry Cavill.

The titular warrior from the Netflix show The Witcher spent most of season one on the road and monster-hunting, despite being told that his calling involved Princess Ciri (Freya Allan). Multiple adventures and extraordinary circumstances kept the two apart until the season finale, “Much More”. That episode also saw Geralt’s love interest Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) make a last stand against the invading Nilfgaardian army, led by fellow sorceress Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni). Unbeknown to Geralt, Yennefer lived to fight another day. Now, he must embrace his paternal instincts to keep Ciri safe from the external forces pursuing her.

“For me, the chess pieces are on the board,” showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich tells SFX. “So now, how do we start moving them around in surprising ways, and how do we start intersecting the characters? Since the very beginning, the thing I was most excited about was Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer in the same place, at the same time.

“I was talking to both Anya and Freya. They were pointing out that they never shot a scene together last season. That’s the promise I was most excited to deliver on, just digging into that family, which is the thing that appealed to me about the stories in the first place. And then watching it go well and then watching it completely explode, because you can’t always have happy endings.”

HEY CIRI

When