The Witcher showrunner says season 3 will be more faithful to the source material

The Witcher season 3 will be split into two batches of episodes, with the first batch reaching the Netflix streaming service on June 29th and the rest being released on July 27th. The show is inspired by a series of novels written by Andrzej Sapkowski, and a lot of fans were disappointed that season 2 strayed away from the source material. As the premiere of season 3 approaches, showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich has said that this season is going to be more faithful to Sapkowski’s work than the previous one.

Speaking to Collider, Schmidt-Hissrich said, “The truth is that we always obviously start from the books. But I talk a lot in interviews about the fact that you cannot go straight from a page to a screen. And so what we try to do and what I’ve always talked to Sapkowski about is keeping the tone of the books the same. And I think as long as we do that, as long as we’re trying to invest in those stories in the way he wanted to tell them. Which is really about a family coming together, then I feel like we’re in safe territory. … Season 2 obviously had a lot of… There was a lot of controversy about how much we changed. … I thought that Blood of Elves was incredibly difficult to adapt, because there wasn’t a lot of big action. And as much as you can talk to book lovers and book purists and say like, ‘But no, this could have been beautiful!’ It could have been. But I actually believe over eight episodes, it would’ve been too slow to keep its momentum. Certainly to keep an audience interested. Season 3, especially on the heels of season 2, is a much more direct adaptation. Again, just from a basic writing perspective, the book is so easily adaptable. And it really is… It can be broken down into big events.“

The Witcher season 3 is based on the book Time of Contempt, which also happens to be Schmidt-Hissrich’s favorite book in Sapkowki’s series.

The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family — the story of the intertwined destinies of three individuals in the vast world of The Continent, where humans, elves, witchers, gnomes, and monsters battle to survive and thrive, and where good and evil is not easily identified.

The Witcher season 3 has the following synopsis: As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra 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 she hopes to discover 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.

Henry Cavill reprises the role of Geralt for this season, but this is his last season on the show. As of season 4, the role is being taken over by Liam Hemsworth.

Cavill is joined in the cast by Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Joey Batey as the bard Jaskier. Other returning actors from previous seasons include MyAnna Buring, Tom Canton, Jeremy Crawford, Eamon Farren, Mahesh Jadu, Terence Maynard, Lars Mikkelsen, Mimî M Khayisa, Royce Pierreson, Wilson Mbomio, Anna Shaffer, Therica Wilson-Read, Cassie Clare, Mecia Simson, Graham McTavish, Bart Edwards, Simon Callow, Liz Carr, Ed Birch, and Kaine Zajaz. Among the new additions to the cast are Robbie Amell (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City), Meng’er Zhang(Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Hugh Skinner (Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!), and Christelle Elwin (Bloods).

Are you a fan of the Witcher novels, and are you glad to hear that season 3 is going to stick closer to Sapkowski’s writing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.