Netflix released the teaser for the third season of “The Witcher,” starring Henry Cavill as the protagonist, Geralt of Rivia along with Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Freya Allen as Cirilla, among others. The primary antagonist in the teaser is the Wild Hunt, and we’ll get into that in a moment, but the series also presents a few new characters aside from bringing back some older ones. The teaser looks great, replete with a gothic, dark, and sinister tone, as the fans gear up to see their hero, Henry Cavill, don the Witcher armor once more to take on monsters, both human and non-human. So, without any further ado, here’s a detailed breakdown of the teaser.
The teaser starts with Geralt opening the door of what looks like a dimly lit cave and taking a swig of the cat potion, giving his eyes the typical demonic widened pupils. For casual Witcher fans, the Cat Potion is a special concoction that allows Witchers to see better in pitch-black darkness and therefore, fight their enemies better. He then unsheathes his steel sword as some entity stands a little in the distance, and the place looks like a throne room with the massive seat before Geralt. What can be understood as sand beaches can be vaguely seen beyond the room. In the voiceover, Geralt is heard saying that this is the first time he understands what true fear feels like, and in all probability, it’s in context with what is to come next.
We see Ciri fleeing on horseback as shadowy entities chase her, and she looks terrified. These entities are the Wild Hunt, a species of spectral elves that are known to be cavalrymen who gallop through the skies. The Wild Hunt is ominous of war, and if the Netflix show is following the correct direction, there might be a war brewing between the empires of Redania and Nilfgaard, but more on that in a while. The Wild Hunt, headed by Eredin Bréacc Glas, has one goal: to capture Ciri because she’s “The Child of Elder Blood,” meaning she has elven blood in her. Thus, the leader of the Wild Hunt, or Aen Elle, as they’re called in Elven, wants the girl because he wants to make use of the power that her blood holds. If we go by the CD Project RED game of “Witcher 3,” the Wild Hunt would be relentlessly hunting for Ciri, which would include Geralt traveling to four different cities, looking for clues about it. This chase would end in a final showdown where Geralt might go against Eredin himself, but Netflix has already made some serious altercations to the central plot, so there’s no guarantee how the Wild Hunt will fit into this season’s story. However, there’s little probability that Geralt would be facing Wild Hunt for the ultimate showdown in this very season.
We see Yennefer of Vengerberg looking dazed and disoriented when she finds herself in a confusing setting as the island of Aretuza comes into view. It’s the same place where Yennefer and all the other girls trained to become sorceresses under the mentorship of Tissaia de Vries. This suggests Aretuza will play a big role in the newest season, with it being the place where the sorcerers and sorceresses convene for important decisions. Next, we see Rience, the mage who’d been tasked with finding Ciri by Vilgefortz, and Rience is known to have powers of fire, but Yennefer had burned his face by spitting alcohol at him when he tried threatening her with his powers. Rience makes a return and will go up against Geralt directly because Geralt is seen throwing his sword at the mage, which he effectively dodges. Additionally, we get a very brief glimpse at Phillipa Eilhart, the magical advisor to Sigismund Dijkstra and the mage for Redania. We see Phillipa imposing on the bard, Jaskier, who’s a close friend of Jaskier, so we can hazard a guess that she wants the bard to spill the information he may have on Ciri because Redania wants to make the girl the rightful heir of Cintra so that Vizimir’s Redania can achieve higher power and glory in the political scenario.
Yennefer is seen using her magical powers against a band of attackers, sending them flying using a shockwave, and Ciri can be spotted with her back turned behind Yennefer. Yennefer had lost her powers after using fire magic at Sodden Hill, but she regained them by offering herself as the vessel for sacrifice instead of Ciri, and now, she’s once again able to cast magic. Thus, she’ll be valuable to Geralt, who will need all the help he can get against Redania, Nilfgaard, and the Wild Hunt. Lastly, Ciri finds herself in a hedge maze where she looks around for Geralt and Yennefer, and the latter can be seen wearing a mask that the people sport during balls. Geralt is seen calling out for Ciri with his sword as Ciri comes across an arachnoid-like monster in the distance.
Now, Nilfgaard’s emperor Emhyr Van Emreis is looking for Ciri, who’s his daughter, which is also a major plot point in the video game “Witcher 3,” and he finally makes an appearance at the end of Season 2. As it turns out, Duny, the cursed knight who’d claimed the Law of Surprise many years ago when Jaskier had taken Geralt to Cintra for the first time, has become the ruler of Nilfgaard, and he wants his daughter back. However, we don’t see Emhyr or any other Nilfgaardian loyalists like Cahir or Fringilla Vigo, who had killed all other competitors after freezing time before Emhyr arrived. This means Nilfgaard will make a later entry in the series, and we probably won’t see them immediately.
Finally, this season is the last time we’ll see Henry Cavill put on the Witcher gear because he’s confirmed that he’ll be leaving the franchise for good after creative disputes with the showrunners. With Cavill gone, the show will lose out on a massive chunk of its fanbase, most of whom began watching the show because of Cavill alone. Thus, Witcher fans need to make the most of the final season with the hero of the series before the titular role is taken over by Liam Hemsworth, which could spell catastrophe for the entire franchise. Additionally, the third season is going to be released in two parts, with the first one airing on 29th June while the second part will be streaming on 27th July. Netflix will be probably splitting the show into two parts to retain the viewers’ interest and keep the show relevant for a longer period, a tactic they’ve used with the fourth season of “Stranger Things” and a number of others. As to how the third season is received by the fans, we’ll have to wait and see.
