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The Witcher
FRIDAY, DEC. 17
ORIGINAL FANTASY DRAMA Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill, right), the mostly solitary, emotionally unavailable monster-hunter-for-hire, is about to be a lot less alone on Season 2 of the fan favorite.
For starters, since he is duty-bound to protect Princess Cirilla of Cintra (Freya Allan), he’s reluctantly taken on a fatherly role. And when the season kicks off, Geralt and Ciri are journeying to the remote Witcher home base, Kaer Morhen, so Ciri can receive training to defend herself. Once there, a new side of Geralt emerges. “You get to see a vulnerability in him. You get to see the teasing between siblings, and the protectiveness of a father,” says showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich of the Witchers’ family-like dynamic and Geralt’s own tough parental figure, Vesemir (Kim Bodnia).
On the way to Kaer Morhen, Geralt and Ciri make a pit stop at the magical mansion of his old pal Nivellen (Kristofer Hivju, who played warrior Tormund Giantsbane). “Nivellen is cursed, imprisoned in this boar-meets-bear-meetshuman body, and haunted by his past,” Hivju teases of the tale, reminiscent. Stories like those told in these episodes are “probably a little bit more intense than Season 1,” says Hissrich. “We lean into suspense, horror and those darker elements a little bit more heavily.” Just what we want. —
