The Witcher season 3 Volume 2: The release date, the plot, the cast, episode titles, and more
Looking for the latest information on Witcher Season 3 Volume 2? We've got it (and we're updating this as more and more comes in)
The wait is over; The entire third season of The Witcher is available now. If you're reading this, you're interested in what's happening in the season. And good news, we have that! But to be super-conscious of those avoiding spoilers, this article is a spoiler-free guide to Witcher season 3 on Netflix. If you're looking for a spoiler-filled guide, read our Witcher season 3 ending explained guide.
What is the Witcher?
What is this Witcher of which you speak? The Witcher is a massively popular Netflix fantasy series about Geralt of Rivia, part of a group of magically enhanced monster hunters-for-hire known as 'Witchers.' Based on a popular book series by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, which have been previously turned into an also ridiculously popular video game series, Witcher follows Geralt, the love of his life sorceress Yennefer of Vengeberg and the girl who will become his daughter and destiny, Princess Ciri, as they navigate an ever-more sprawling landscape of warring nations, races, magic users, monsters (and maybe universes?).
The series stars Justice League’s Superman Henry Cavill as Geralt, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Freya Allen as Ciri.
What is The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 release date?
As you know, The Witcher season 3 is being released in two parts this summer: Season 3 Volume 1 dropped on Thursday, June 29, and then Season 3 Volume 2 hit Netflix on Thursday, July 27.
While it may seem odd to release it in two chunks, it's something Netflix has done for years - most notably with the later seasons of Stranger Things. The first five episodes of The Witcher season 3 were released on June 29, while episodes 6, 7, and 8 camee out July 27.
Is there a The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 trailer?
Oh, absolutely. There are trailers for both Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 and Volume 2, plus a "teaser" as Netflix calls it. Watch the teaser here.:
Watch the full trailer for Witcher Season 3 Volume 1 here:
And watch the full trailer for Witcher Season 3 Volume 2 here:
So is Henry Cavill in The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2?
Yep. But he has announced that he will be leaving the show after the season.
Why is Henry Cavill leaving the Witcher?
Cavill is the hugest of Witchheads and has spoken repeatedly about how much he has loved being on the show. While he hasn’t had much to say about why he’s leaving, The Witcher is a show that takes a lot of time to produce. For an in-demand actor like Cavill, it may be that three seasons was as much time as he had to give.
Is the Witcher ending then?
Ha ha no, of course it isn’t, didn’t you read that intro? The Witcher is hugely popular! Nationwide, watchers clocked 142 million of season two in its first three days.
Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), who was another frontrunner to play Geralt back in 2018, will be taking on the role for season 4.
Who else is in The Witcher cast in season 3?
Beyond Cavill, Chalotra, and Allen, the third season saw Joey Batey's return as Jaskier, as showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promised Forbes in December of last year. Hissrich also hinted previously at a romantic role for someone and if you've seen Volume 1... oh wait, no spoilers here.
Further expanding on their places in Witcher world were sorcerors Tissaia de Vries (MyAnna Buring), Francesca (Mecia Simson), Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), and Stregigobor (Lars Mikkelsen).
Numerous other actors from the series have returned, including Anna Shaffer as Triss Merigold, Royce Pierreson as Istredd, Bart Edwards as Duny/Emperor Emhyr/The White Flame, Cassie Clare as Philippa Eilhart, Tom Canton as Filavandrel, Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevissig, Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla, and Graham McTavish as Sigismund Dijkstra.
Also returning to Season 3 is Eamon Farren as Cahir, who recently promised that this season would feature a "turning point" for his fan-favorite character.
Here are character posters Netflix has released for The Witcher season 3 chapter 1:
The one series regular that definitely did not return is Roach.
Sigh.
I know. Toss a coin.
And long live Roach 2!
Did any new actors join The Witcher?
Heck yeah. Meng’er Zhang from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings took a trip to the Continent as fan favorite character from the books: archer Milva.
Robbie Amell from The Flash and a million other things played Gallatin, leader of the Scoia’tael army.
Hugh Skinner played Prince Radovid, playboy younger brother of Redania’s King Vizimir, who proves to be a brilliant political player.
Fabian McCallum (who played the elf that refuses to go along with Galdriel’s endless hunt for Sauron in Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power) joined the cast as Kayleigh, member of the Rats, a group of teenage thieves and cutthroats who take Ciri in. Christelle Elwin has also been cast as Mistle from that group, and Juliette Alexandra as the Nilfgaardian Reef. And there is speculation that previously announced Aggy K. Adams may be playing Askra. According to Redanian Intelligence a new Rats spinoff series to air between seasons 3 and 4 has just begun preproduction (!), with Witcher writer Haily Hall as showrunner and Hissrich as executive producer.
Saffiya Ingar and Rochelle Rose have also joined Witcher for season 3 as Keira Metz and Margarita Laux-Antille, respectively. Jim Sturgeon plays royal messenger Aplegatt, and Sean Cernow is playing a new character called Veldhoek.
Chris Fulton, who played Rience, has left the show, putting Sam Woolf in the role; and the character of Crach an Craite, who was portrayed in season one by Blair Kincaid, is now be portrayed by Vikings: Valhalla and Game of Thrones star Johannes Haukur Johannesson.
What do we know about The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 plot?
Here's how Netflix describes The Witcher season 3's story:
"As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it," reads the description. "Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where they hope to uncover 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."
Season 3 adapts the Witcher book The Time of Contempt, in which Ciri, Geralt, and Yennifer travel to Aretuza to hide from those hunting for Ciri, while she trains with Yen. And since season 2 was released, Hissrich has dropped lots of hints about season 3.
On December 21, Hissrich told Entertainment Weekly that she plans to give Cavill "the most heroic sendoff" in Season 3, after Volume 2 wraps. "Henry has given so much to the show and so we want to honor that appropriately."
Along these lines, she noted that Geralt's story at this point is about "giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri." By the time we get to season 4, Hissrich said, the character will not only have a different actor doing the role; "he has a new mission in mind."
In an earlier interview with 1883 Magazine Hissrich said Season 3 “will be a much more political season,” with many of the broader political pieces that have been set up in the prior seasons coming to the fore. (For Witcher readers, sounds like the Thanedd Coup is very much on the menu.) Hissrich also confirmed with Polygon, “We’re introducing the Scoia’tael, this army of elves that’s fighting on behalf of Nilfgaard.” And bonding between Ciri, Geralt and Yen will apparently be a central aspect of the show as well. Writing on Instagram recently, she said "repairing the relationship" between the three characters "is a huge part of the beginning of season 3! It's not something we're just ignoring and moving on with."
After season 2 Hissrich told the Wrap that Contempt (which is apparently her favorite book in the saga), is “very easily adaptable”: “There’s tons of action, there’s tons of things that are just jaw dropping when you get to them.”
In her recent Instagram post she reemphasized that the follows the book pretty closely. Referring to the feedback she received from some fans over season two's differences from the books, she wrote, "I did hear the fans. And S3 very much shows that shift back to the books, following Sapkowski's amazing character journeys of our mains." Book two, she wrote, "was very hard to adapt."
So it sounds like we should expect the rest of the season to follow that book pretty closely - including, from what Hissrich told ComicBook.com, “Some death.”
In an interview with Collider Hissrich made reference to a “big story” from Blood of Elves that they didn’t have time for which will now be in season 3. She has also talked about the mysterious story of Vilgefortz as a big thing that will be paid off this season. “To me, the history of Vilgefortz, who he is in this world – he enters almost as a complete stranger and everyone’s kind of wondering what his history is, where he came from…comes into fruition in a huge way in season three.”
She also told the Wrap the story takes place “on a very, very small time line. Not a lot of time passes, because it doesn’t need to,” which would be a pretty big difference from either of the prior seasons.
Season 3, Volume 2 will almost definitely expand on the Wild Hunt, particularly after season 2’s end reveal of them and their desire for Ciri’s blood. Hissrich told IGN after season 2 to expect some sense of development of who these characters are and what they’re about. “Like all characters in Spakoski novels, we’re going to get a little bit deeper into them. So they’re not just these evil skeletal bad guys.” But how much of that we can expect, or when we’ll get the full on Wild Hunt, remains to be seen.
Is there a The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 plot synopsis?
Yes, somewhat. Here's the synopsis for the full third season, obviously not giving much away: "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."
How many episodes does The Witcher Season 3: Volume 2 have?
There are eight episodes in The Witcher season 3 according to Netflix, in line with the episode counts of season 1 and season 2. Volume One of the third season was made up of five episodes, leaving three for Volume Two.
Do we have any episode titles for Season 3: Volume 2?
We do! check out all the Witcher Season 3 episode titles below.
- The Witcher, season three episode one 'Shaerrawedd' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode two 'Unbound' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode three 'Reunion' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode four 'The Invitation' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode five 'The Art of Illusion' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode six 'Everybody Has a Plan 'til They Get Punched in the Face' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode seven 'Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan' (2023)
- The Witcher, season three episode eight 'The cost of chaos' (2023)
Will there be The Witcher season 4?
Yep, with Liam Hemsworth taking over for Henry Cavill as Geralt.
But sources at the Redanian Intelligence also believe season 5 might also have been quietly greenlit, with the two seasons written and produced back-to-back.
How long will the Witcher show go?
As long as we keep watching!
Actually, Hissrich has said she’d love for the main series to end at the same point that Sapkwoski ended the books, as long as there’s still fan interest. Her original plan involved seven seasons, but whether that’s still the case remains to be seen, especially as Sapkwoski has released two more books since. Hissrich kidded with Collider that she’s just glad no one has taken her up on her original offer of doing 20 seasons if they would let her. “I would be dead by that.”
