Posted in: Netflix, Preview, streaming, Trailer, TV | Tagged: Andrzej Sapkowski, bleeding cool, books, cable, Ciri, fringilla, Geralt, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Mimi Ndiweni, novels, preview, season 2, streaming, television, the witcher, tv, Yennefer

"The Witcher" Season 2: Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich Talks Storyline Focus, Timelines & More Fringilla

Fans of The Witcher are liking what they're seeing of Netflix's adaptation, with the first season doing its part to set up the backstories for our main players – but now one question remains unanswered. When will Henry Cavill's (Justice League) next turn as Geralt be happening? Because us "geek folk" can be a bit impatient sometimes – even when a series was released less than two months ago.

Thankfully, Cavill shared an update on the next season of the streaming service's adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels (more on that below). Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is also thinking "second season", offering viewers some insights on what they can expect during a sitdown with Vulture (which you can read in its entirety here).

Here are some of the highlights:

● While Hissrich has been open to some criticisms of the first season and pushed back on others, there's one complaint raised that the showrunner took to heart and reveals how it will be approached during season 2: giving our characters some time to breathe and for viewers to get to know them – and more time for us to see them get to know one another:

"Yes. It's one of the broadest ones, but it's one of the ones that hurt the most when I read it. Some people feel that because we were putting in so much story, and because it was very important to me to present Yennefer early on, they felt like they didn't get to go deep enough into any of the characters. They were trying to follow so much story that none of the stories emotionally resonated. Not everyone feels that way, but I have heard that critique enough for it to sit with me.

We already know the stories we're telling [for season two], but I want to make sure that we have the time to tell them appropriately. One of the biggest changes we've made is to make sure that the scripts aren't too long. It's a terrible thing when you shoot a story that you're proud of, and then it's 95 minutes long and you're trying to fit it into 60 minutes of television. You end up cutting stuff that you know would be great, or would be important. Viewers are going to find that because we're not trying to push as much story, and we're not trying to constantly introduce new characters all the time, and new worlds, and new kingdoms, and increase the politics, sometimes we just get to sit with characters and learn about them a little bit more. And that's probably the thing I'm most excited for people to see."

● Now that Geralt, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri aka Princess Cirilla (Freya Allan) are all on the same page timeline-wise, viewers can expect there to be less "time-travelling" but multiple storylines will still be at play:

"No. All three characters [Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer] are on the same timeline now. That's where we ended season one. That's absolutely where we will pick up in season two. The stories will be told in a much more linear fashion. They won't all be one story. It's not like all three are together and happy all the time. But, I do want to employ some different ways to look at time series-wide. I think that there is a lot that we couldn't fit into season one. There are different short stories that I would love to highlight and focus on. We may end up doing those in the future, via flashback, for instance. But no, we won't have things happening across 100 years at the same time anymore."

● As for any intel on specific characters for the new season, Hissrich teases that viewers will get to learn a lot more about Mimi Ndiweni's sorceress Fringilla Vigo – and possibly see her in a different light:

"Fringilla is one of those characters that we're going to delve into even more. One of the things that I did hear is that she seems like a fanatic or a zealot, which is interesting. I've never seen her that way, perhaps because, even by the time that we were putting it on the air, I knew where we were going with season two. We're digging deeper into her past and how she ended up at Nilfgaard, who she is as a person, and how she and Yennefer ended up on such different paths. She gets to do a lot more. I'm so excited. Mimi Ndiweni did such a fantastic job portraying her."

In early January, Cavill wished everbody a happy new year and thanked viewers for making The Witcher a success – promising updates on the series via social media in the future, proving his point with his first update. Pre-production on the highly-anticipated second season is expected to begin "very shortly" – and you can check out the rest of Cavill's video post below:

View this post on Instagram.

Now that Cavill's set the mood, here a look back at the main and final official trailer for Netflix's The Witcher:

Based on the best-selling series of fantasy novels, The Witcher tells an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), 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 Yennefer (Anya Cholatra), a powerful sorceress, and Ciri (Freya Allan), a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.

Here's a look at each of our main players: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri:

The folks at The Witcher were kind enough to reveal the titles of all eight chapters in November 2019 via the following video (followed by a list of the chapter titles and the Twitter teases that were included):

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"The End's Beginning" ("A monster slain, a butcher named")

"Four Marks" ("We look at a sorceress's earlier days")

"Betrayer Moon" ("A picky eater, a family shamed")

"Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials" ("The Law of Surprise is how one repays")

"Bottled Appetites" ("A fateful meeting, a bard is maimed")

"Rare Species" ("The hunt for a dragon is underway")

"Before A Fall" ("A return to before a kingdom is flamed")

"Much More" ("The Witcher Family, as you all like to say")

The Witcher stars Henry Cavill (Justice League) as Geralt, Anya Cholatra (The ABC Murders) as Yennefer, Freya Allan (Into the Badlands) as Ciri, Jodhi May (Game of Thrones) as Calanthe, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Fortitude) as Eist, Adam Levy (Knightfall) as Mousesack, MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street) as Tissaia, Mimi Ndiweni (Black Earth Rising) as Fringilla, Therica Wilson-Read (Profile) as Sabrina, and Emma Appleton (The End of the F**king World) as Renfri.

In addition, The Witcher cast includes Eamon Farren (The ABC Murders) as Cahir, Joey Batey (Knightfall) as Jaskier, Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards) as Stregobor, Royce Pierreson (Wanderlust) as Istredd, Maciej Musiał (1983) as Sir Lazlo, Wilson Radjou-Pujalte as Dara, Anna Shaffer as Triss, and Anna-Louise Plowman as Zola.

Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and based on the book series of the same name by Sapkowski, the fantasy series features Cavill's Geralt wielding some serious steel of his own as he struggles to survive and find his place in a world where the monsters he hunts can be far less dangerous than the people around him.

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