Geralt and Ciri gear up for the “end of days” in trailer for The Witcher‘s second season
Henry Cavill returns as Geralt, everyone's favorite monster hunter, in The Witcher's upcoming season
Aux News The Witcher
After months of stringing us along with teasers, Netflix has finally dropped a full trailer for The Witcher. The show’s second season still doesn’t premiere for another two months, but from the clip, we see that Geralt (Henry Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan), and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) all have a lot more fantasy and monster-fighting ahead of them.
In the clip, a voiceover warns, “Something has changed, Geralt, The world is acting strange these days.” Which really sets the stage for some full-scale, monster-centric global unrest. The trailer also highlights Ciri and her monster-hunter training and it hints that Geralt might finally get the opportunity to be reunited with Yen.
Netflix’s official synopsis for the season reads: “Convinced Yennefer’s life was lost at the Battle of Sodden, Geralt of Rivia brings Princess Cirilla to the safest place he knows, his childhood home of Kaer Morhen. While the Continent’s kings, elves, humans and demons strive for supremacy outside its walls, he must protect the girl from something far more dangerous: the mysterious power she possesses inside.”
In a review for the show’s first season, The A.V. Club’s William Hughes praised the show’s handling of fantasy elements, writing, “While gritty fantasy series tend to keep their more “unrealistic” elements at arm’s length, The Witcher embraces its fairy tale nature, albeit in a bloodier than normal fashion. When prophecies, enchanted knights, and cursed princesses can all be a part of the tricky maneuvering of statecraft, there’s room for a man with a silver sword and a keen eye for manticore anatomy to make an impact in world affairs, and it’s when the show looks closer at the day-to-day realities of being a mutant monster hunter (or a king’s official magical assistant, as the case may be) that The Witcher is at its most interesting.”
The Witcher will return for its second season on December 17.
18 Comments
Can’t wait for this. I NEED IT NOW!
Same. I am beyond stoked.
Nice to see a proper adaptation of A Grain of Truth. I was kind of bummed that Season 1 didn’t play into the classic fairy tales but with dark twists that the books did.******Abandon all hope of not being spoiled ye who enter here!*********It’s Beauty and the Beast except Belle’s a vampire.
Laser, have you read all of Witcher? I’ve only played Witcher 3. How do you feel the adaptation of the source material is going, are they zigging when they should zig, etc.?
I’ve only read the first two short story collections, Blood of Elves, and I’ve played Witcher 3 so I can’t help you much.
Gotcha. I’m putting them (and the rest) on my list to “hopefully read in 2022.”
You know why I love The Witcher? It’s the perfect example of a series “Taking Itself Seriously Just Enough.”
You’ve got dramatic moments and character growth when it’s called for, but you also have the silliness. That’s such a hard, hard line for a fantasy series to walk, and it does it just expertly.
This is why, when I see the trailers for Wheel of Time, I get that sixth sense of “You’re gonna fuck this up, aren’t you?”
I think this is a good articulation of The Witcher’s strength, succeeding where many other Lord of the Rings-ish genre shows/movies have failed, it has a fantastic grasp of its tone. I’ve watched the first season twice and been delighted by it both times, I can’t get enough of Cavil’s take on Geralt. He’s a dour character who could easily have been boring and bleak, but he is devastatingly funny in a deadpan kind of way, and brings a spark of charisma to every scene.
I like how Geralt has two catchphrases, and they’re “fuck,” and [irritated grunt].
His exasperated “fuck” should be the most popular gif in the world, yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen it, even once.
Yeah, I came into the series thinking it would be Games of Thrones, but instead it was more Xena: Warrior Princess…okay, maybe not quite that corny (or low budget), but Witcher has a certain pulpiness and irreverence that I appreciate.
This in a nutshell. For the first 2 episodes I wasn’t into it as it felt kind of silly to me. Then it clicked, it was me who was taking it too seriously. I’ve been conditioned I guess to equate grim and self-serious with “good.” Once I got correct I simply enjoyed the hell out of it.
Hopefully they send a note with the advance review copies. “Please watch every episode on the tape. I can’t believe I have to say that either, but here we are.”
Going to be November next week. December is around the corner. Fun to see season 2 bringing some blood before Christmas. Didn’t care for the music, and someone took a suggestion and remade it.
Looks fine? Less cheap, even!
I remember experiencing a bit of whiplash watching the first season. As somebody who only ever had played the games (and tried to read the books, but was repulsed by what might very well be a horrible translation), I initially wrote to a friend — Polish and well versed in Sapkowski’s work — just how… off it all felt. But I kept watching, and by episode 3, I was in. I guess it took me a while to see just how very much at ease the series is with its camp streak, as others have mentioned before. (I mean, using “Monster” for the trailer? That’s indeed a ride on the very fine line between being plain ridiculous and being in on the joke.) Worked fine as a wintry Christmas thing, too, especially the episodes hewing closer to the fairy tale influences. (I remember the destructive dance with the hedgehog guy with fondness.)
That said, I wonder how the series will do. Season 1 certainly was no GoT, but generated more buzz than I expected. But then again, Nightmare of The Wolf seems to have not have any impact whatsoever. (Even on those site — 4 comments under the review. 4!) Which does not really speak to people being ardent fans of the IP as such. Which, well, is fine with me. We do have enough extended multiverses as is.
My biggest issue with Season 1 was that none of the mass battles felt real. Like, when the castle is under siege you don’t see siege engines or anything. Just a bunch of guys walking the door with swords.
heneeeeeefurrrr lopeezzzzz
I almost missed this article since it’s somehow not on the front page(as far as I could see), but I remembered “wasn’t there a new Witcher trailer last night?” so to the search bar I went.This looks like it has a decent budget now. Some of the wider, outdoor shots look spectacular. Can’t wait. I hope it still balances its tone well, Cavill’s Geralt is just too good of a character.