The Witcher is fantasy drama series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. The show is based on the book series of the name, The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. The Witcher has been popularized worldwide by the video games of the same name made by CD Projekt Red.
The Witcher Season 2 Cast
- Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia
- Freya Allan as Cirilla “Ciri”
- Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg
- Joey Batey as Jaskier
- Eamon Farren as Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach
- MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries
- Royce Pierreson as Istredd
- Mimî M. Khayisa as Fringilla Vigo
- Anna Shaffer as Triss Merigold, a sorceress
- Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz of Roggeveen
- Mecia Simson as Francesca Findabair
- Chris Fulton as Rience
- Kim Bodnia as Vesemir
- Paul Bullion as Lambert
- Yasen Atour as Coën
- Basil Eidenbernz as Eskel
- Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor
- Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevissig
- Terence Maynard as Artorius Vigo
- Graham McTavish as Sigismund Dijkstra
- Cassie Clare as Philippa Eilhart
The Witcher Season 1 Plot till now
The Witcher series follows a witcher named Geralt of Rivia, who travels throughout the continent doing what witchers do, kill monsters. But Geralt has been bound to a destiny, very different from what of a witcher’s life. Many years ago, when Geralt was in Cintra, he invoked a law of surprise for helping a cursed human, Duny. The law of surprise bounded him to Cirilla, Duny and Pavetta’s daughter, who is yet to be born.
Season 1 follows different timelines in the lives of Geralt, Yennefer, Jaskier and Ciri where the characters are established and eventually all of their timelines collide at the battle of Sodden between the North and the Nilfgaard at the end of the season.
The Witcher Season 2 Plot
The plot for Season 2 begins after the battle of Sodden. Geralt had found Ciri at the end of season 1 and Yennefer after using the spell of fire to win the battle has been missing. Geralt and Tissaia search for Yennefer after the battle but are unsuccessful and assume her to be dead. So, Geralt believes that getting back to Kaer Morhen for the winter will be the best place for keeping Ciri safe. Along with the fellow Witchers and Vesemir, Geralt trains Ciri so she can protect herself in the future, is Geralt is unable to do so.
Yennefer loses her Power of Chaos after the Battle of Sodden. The fire spell that she used in the battle seemed to have caused her to lose her abilities. She tries to get her powers back as she goes back to Aretuza, then escapes to protect herself where the rest of the story continues.
The Witcher Season 2 Review
Geralt played by Henry Cavill is a Witcher, who has gone through intense experiments and mutations to be able to fight monsters and wield powers that are different from that of a human. Geralt was the best trainee among his peers during his training days and he went through additional mutations which caused his hair to go white. But not just being highly skilled and having high resilience to mutations to which many humans don’t survive, he and some witchers went through additional mutations where only he survived. Such high tolerance and abilities weren’t the only facets that made Geralt different from other witchers but what his destiny had in the store for him made his life somewhat unique from any other creature on the continent.
The whole story revolves around Geralt but the supporting characters play as much of an important role in the story as does he. Cirilla is a descendent of the Elder blood from her mother, the one who has elder blood carry powerful magic that was also seen in her mother. Ciri’s power and her being the heir to Cintra makes her a target to many, not only in the continent but across the multiverse of the witcher lore. So, Geralt being her father through the law of surprise has no choice but to save her and protect her. The visions of Ciri and Geralt makes them realize that their destinies are bound together and their fates are intertwined. Geralt takes Ciri under his wing and trains her as he tries to find who she is and what makes her so powerful.
Season 1 of The Witcher introduces the main characters with their backstories through multiple sagas that occur before the events of the books. Season 1 follows a way of unconventional storytelling with the narrative across different years where eventually everyone’s timeline meet at the end. The unconventional storytelling is confusing for the audience if they are not familiar with the lore, but as the episodes go by the plot becomes more clear and easy to follow through. All the episodes are based on the short stories written by Andrzej Sapkowski which tell the tales of various encounters that Geralt witnessed through his journey and introduce many monsters in the world of the witcher. Season 1 is best at doing the job of establishing the characters and the world by instilling what comes next that will change all of their lives.
Season 2 doesn’t follow the unconventional route that Season 1 had, the story is in chronological order. The unorthodox storytelling of Season 1 is confusing at first but as you get familiar with it the more likeable it becomes, that was the uniqueness of the show that made it different. But, understandably, such a way of telling the accounts was more appropriate in Season 1 than in Season 2 where the show gets into the main narrative of the story of Geralt.
A show like The Witcher serves the audience well if they are looking for blood and gore with intense action. The gore displayed in the show gives justice to the darkness that the world of the witcher reflects. The gloominess among the people due to the fear of monsters and now increased by the fear of war makes the world more true.
The dark tones that are presented in the show such as the injustice towards non-humans and mages, the corruption of the people for the hunger for power build a sense of eeriness. The show doesn’t shy away from hard topics as can be seen in the 1st episode of Season 2. The bleakness of the environment is the best at showing the world that comprises of danger at every corner.
Henry Cavill embodies the role of Geralt and is the perfect casting. The deep voice of Geralt which is similar to the one in the games is a unique trait and that will forever be synonymous to Geralt and Henry. Freya Allen as Ciri isn’t fleshed out enough to establish herself in Season 1 but we take a deeper look into her development in Season 2 which gets her more cemented into the role. The casting of Anya Chalotra as Yennefer is perfection in its own way. Honestly, the casting seems absolute for the show with many more main characters still to have major plotlines for them to be fleshed out, we can expect for them to be good if not the best.
Being a fan of the game, The Witcher 3, I always compare the show to the game. The story of the game and the show are completely at different time periods at this point but the characters and world are what can be compared and the show does as good of a job as the game in developing the characters. It can also be seen in some moments where there is a clear inspiration from the game in terms of set design but still with a distinctive approach of their own.
I have always been fascinated by fictional stories in a fantasy world and unworldly creatures like The Lord of the Rings and The Witcher surely scratch that itch. With many more plotlines to come, stories to be told, places to be explored and characters to be introduced, the future of The Witcher series excites me.
The Witcher Season 2 Critical Reception
The Witcher: Season 2 has a score of 96% based on 23 reviews and the series has an average score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. On IMDb, the series has a rating of 8.2 out of 10 based on 372k ratings. On Metacritic, it has a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 critics.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
The Witcher is an amazing series to binge-watch. If you are a fan of the games just like me then you will not be disappointed. Henry Cavill as Geralt kills it and he kills a lot of monsters too with some great actions sequences. I have not read the books but I believe the show is doing a great job of showcasing the vision of Andrzej Sapkowski. Many new fans will love the show and the 2nd season even more. The show introduced a lot of people to the witcher lore and brought back many existing fans into the fantasy land of the Northern Kingdoms, Nilfgaard, the continent and other universes.
The Witcher season 2 will be released on the 17th of December and will be available to watch on Netflix, worldwide.
