Anyone who is watching The Witcher series on Netflix is surely aware of the controversy. Viewership numbers have been plummeting for series three after the announcement that fan favourite Henry Cavill would be leaving the series after disagreements with the showrunners. Rumours abound that Caville has wanted the series to stick as closely to the books as possible, while producers are determined to make a far simpler, easier to grasp for American teens (their words not mine) version. The result is that people are now missing what may be the strongest series of the three produced so far, a thing that makes Cavill’s exit all the more disappointing.
Following on from a strong first season, the Witcher series two could not have been more disappointing. In that series, Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), a mutated monster hunter, is now the adoptive caregiver of Cirilla (Freya Allan) and trying to prep her for the end of the world, while keeping her safe from the plots of Cahir (Eamon Farren) and Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni).
In general, the performances on The Witcher are strong and the two leads along with Yennifer (Anya Chalotra) make for gripping viewing. But for reasons known only to producers, in series two the trio are separated and made to carry their own mini story archs, while side characters of little importance like Francesca (Mecia Simson) are seemingly given the lion’s share of the screen time. The result was an addled mess. A slow storyline that seemed to drift aimlessly with zero character development between the leads and little progression towards and end goal. Long hours were spent at Cair Morhen on training, and a bizarre subplot in which Vesemir agreed to make Ciri a Witcher. It wasted a season, and left us feeling very little for allegedly world-ending threats, or the protagonists who were going to be leading the world to disaster.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3
Enter the third season part one. Clearly aware of the weaknesses of the show and the missed opportunities presented in Season two, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich was brought back and writers set about trying to fix the errors that had been made the previous year. Side characters were quickly dispatched, Cahir returned to the Emperor’s good graces, and Yennifer, Ciri and Geralt brought back together, and even given some bonding time so we could believe in their relationship. Yennifer in particular is brought closer to the character fans of the game and books love, when her powers are returned to her and we see her becoming increasingly more politically savvy. It was a hard job to do, but it was handled adeptly leading to the concluding episode of Part One, “The Art of Illusion.”
Set at the Aretuzan ball that kicks off the Conclave of Mages, the fifth episode eventually reveals that it is not Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen) who is after Ciri as expected, but rather Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu). Geralt sets off to apprehend the real guilty party, but is stopped in his tracks by Dijkstra (Graham McTavish) who puts a sword to his throat and tells him he should have chosen a side. With sounds of battle in the background the second part of the series was well set-up with a new, believable and powerful enemy, stronger relationships between the lead characters and war just on the horizon.
Season three, part two therefore kicked off on a promising note. Episode six sees the ball fall to war as the two already defined sides of the mages loyal to the Northern Kingdoms and those loyal to Nilfgaard are brought into conflict by Redania’s play for power via Phillipa (Cassie Clare) and Dijkstra. Unfortunately for the two plotters, their sent for backup never arrives and instead a group of Scoia’tael crash the party. It’s all rather horribly choreographed as powerful mages are overcome by bowmen, characters run about the battle like headless chickens and Tissaia’s (MyAnna Buring) allegedly devastating Alzur’s Thunder spell is simply fobbed off by a few shield spells by all the main characters. Cahir, having spent the first part doing anything to get into the Emperor’s good graces, suddenly abandons his quest and promises himself to Ciri, who in turn blows up the Tower of the Gull and at the end of it all Tissaia, betrayed by Vilgefortz commits suicide.Â
There was one huge positive in the episode though as the battle between Geralt and Vilgefortz firmly established Vilgefortz as much more than just a political threat and leaves Geralt crushed and crippled on the beach.
Having blown their powder, the rest of the series is spent on Geralt’s slow recovery and Ciri’s wander through a desert and the resulting hallucinations. There are some fun action scenes when she later escapes her capturers, or Geralt and Yaskier (Joey Batey) try to cross a checkpoint, but the season peters out with characters once again separated and trying to find one another. Crucially, the bad guys are, however, now evident and the threat vastly more real than it had been.
It’s a pity then that Henry Cavill has gone, and seasons four and five, set to be filmed back-to-back have been indefinitely postponed due to the writer strike. Cavill was simply immense as Geralt, even perfecting the grunts and intonations of the game’s version, and whoever is responsible for letting him go should hang their head in shame regardless of the fallout that was happening backstage. It’s quite possible that without these two massive downsides, series three could have set us up for a very entertaining season 4 and 5. Now, however, excitement has never been lower, the viewer numbers aren’t looking good, and it’s uncertain whether we will ever see season 5 at all.
