The Witcher season 3 release date, time, cast, trailer, and more

The Witcher season 3 is coming to Netflix soon, and after a few months of limited information about the series, we’re ready to share all the latest updates with fans of the Netflix original series.

The Witcher season 2 dropped in December 2021. From the season 2 release date, we knew the third season probably wouldn’t arrive until 2023. Netflix also released The Witcher: Blood Origin in December 2022.

There’s a lot to go over about The Witcher season 3. We shared everything we know about filming, the new cast, and the future of the series without Henry Cavill. Yes, you read that right, and we’ll get into shortly. We also just got the release date(s), and it’s surprising!

We’ll be updating this story as more information about the new season is revealed. The latest update was made on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. FanSided Entertainment’s Mads Lennon, Bryce Olin, and Natalie Zamora contributed to this story.

The Witcher season 3 premiere

The Witcher season 3 premiere is scheduled for Thursday, June 29, 2023! The wait is nearly over. It’s been so long since The Witcher season 2 premiered in the winter of 2021.

But, there’s a catch. The Witcher season 3 will be split into two parts, or volumes if you will. The first part consists of five episodes.

When is The Witcher season 3 volume 2 on Netflix?

The Witcher season 3 volume 2 is coming to Netflix on Thursday, July 27, 2023. We weren’t expecting Netflix to split up the season, but it’s not the first time the platform has done this with big releases.

So, there will be a four-week gap between the new episodes of the new season. It’s a bold strategy, and we’ll see if it pays off.

The Witcher season 3 release time

The Witcher season 3 will be released at 12:00 a.m. PT/3:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

That also means that The Witcher season 3 part 2 will be released at 12:00 a.m. PT/3:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 27.

That’s normally when Netflix adds new seasons of its original shows and movies. We’ve seen some variance with the live specials and reunions lately, but for the most part, Netflix almost always drops new shows and movies at that time.

Why is The Witcher season 3 split into two parts?

As mentioned, The Witcher season 3 is split into two parts. There are five episodes in the first part, which is coming on June 29. The second part will be released on July 27. Unfortunately, that means there will be a four-week break in between new episodes of The Witcher season 3.

We can’t say why exactly Netflix is doing this, but it seems beneficial to the streamer for a few reasons. First of all, it keeps interest high for a little bit longer. We saw this with Ozark, Stranger Things, and a few other Netflix originals. Fans are a little more engaged when there’s a break, and it allows that conversation about the season to catch up a little bit.

For metrics, it looks like shows released in two parts have higher viewership than when Netflix drops the full season at one time. Netflix basically gets two chances to push new episodes to fans, which, in theory, would result in those higher streaming numbers.

The Witcher season 3 trailer

On June 8, Netflix released the first full-length trailer for the third season, and it looks amazing!

Along with the release date, Netflix also shared the first teaser trailer. This gives us a good glimpse of what to expect from The Witcher season 3. Watch it here!

During the 2023 TUDUM event, Netflix released a clip from the third season!

The Witcher season 3 filming locations and timeline

Filming for The Witcher season 3 officially started on April 4, 2022. The above photo shows Henry Cavill (Geralt of Rivia), Anya Chalotra (Yennefer of Vengerberg), and Freya Allan (Princess Cirilla of Cintra) on the first day of production.

Filming took place in Slovenia, Croatia, and Northern Italy. While most of the second season shot at Arborfield Studios in Berkshire, Redanian Intelligence reports that season 3 got a new home base at Longcross Studios in England.

Then in early May 2022, the outlet reported that a new set representing “mysterious Elven ruins” had been captured in a video from one of The Witcher sets. The set might represent the ruins of Shaerrawedd, an ancient elven palace from the books. You can see photographs of the set at the source.

Production on the new season wrapped in September 2022.

The Witcher season 3 cast

Expect all your favorite characters back for The Witcher season 3 and many new faces! We know that Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Joey Batey, and Anya Chalotra are definitely returning. Below you can find the complete list of all the confirmed returning cast members.

• Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia
• Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra
• Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg
• Joey Batey as Jaskier
• MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries
• Tom Canton as Filavandrel aén Fidháil
• Jeremy Crawford as Yarpen Zigrin
• Eamon Farren as Cahir
• Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz
• Terence Maynard as Artorius Vigo
• Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor
• Mimi Ndiweni as Fringilla Vigo
• Royce Pierreson as Istredd
• Wilson Mbomio as Dara
• Anna Shaffer as Triss Merigold
• Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevissig
• Cassie Clare as Philippa Eilhart
• Mecia Simson as Francesca Findabair
• Graham McTavish as Dijkstra
• Bart Edwards as Duny
• Simon Callow as Ellis Codringher
• Liz Carr as Fenn
• Ed Birch as King Vizimir II
• Kaine Zajaz as Gage

In addition to the returning characters, many new characters are also joining the cast for the upcoming third season. Netflix has confirmed that the following actors are coming aboard and we have details on their characters.

• Gallatin – Robbie Amell (Upload, Code 8, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)
  • A born fighter, Gallatin leads an army of guerrilla Scoia’tael fighting on behalf of Nilfgaard. Unafraid to speak his truth, Gallatin’s loyalty to his people ultimately leads him on a collision course with Francesca over power.
• Milva – Meng’er Zhang (Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings)
  • A human adopted by the dryads of Brokilon Forest, Milva is a fierce and talented huntress. Exact archery skills coupled with a stone-cold aptitude for survival make her a formidable adversary in the unforgiving Continent – those that cross her, do so at their peril.
• Prince Radovid – Hugh Skinner (Mamma Mia Here We Go Again!, Falling For Figaro, Fleabag)
  • Royal playboy and younger brother to King Vizimir, Radovid finds himself suddenly a man on the inside of the Redanian Intelligence. With his good looks and often drunken charm, Radovid surprises with how incisive he can be in matters of politics, but it’s all games until someone gets hurt.
• Mistle – Christelle Elwin (Half Bad, Bloods)
  • Mistle is a member of The Rats, a gang of misfit teenagers who steal from the rich and give to themselves – and sometimes the poor. She is street hard, suspicious of everyone and out for revenge, until a chance meeting that will change everything.

Additional reporting from Witcher news source Redanian Intelligence claims that an additional four roles have been cast, including that of two sorceresses, although Netflix has not confirmed these castings yet.

•  Jim Sturgeon is rumored to have been cast as royal messenger Aplegatt, who worked in service of King Demavend in the books.
• The outlet also believes Sean Cernow was cast, possibly as Ralf Blunden, a murderer in the books known as “The Professor.” However, this is just speculation right now.
• Rochelle Rose is believed to have been cast as Yennefer’s friend and fellow sorceress Margarita Laux-Antille. In the books, she eventually replaces Tissaia de Vries as rector of Aretuza.
• Safiyya Ingar is possibly going to play sorceress Keira Metz, who becomes an essential member of King Foltest’s council.

On Wednesday, May 25, 2022, it was reported that Bridgerton actress Frances Pooley had been cast as a character named “Teryn.” Given Pooley’s similar appearance to Freya Allen, the actress who portrays Ciri, some have begun wondering if she will play a character who is brainwashed into believing she is Ciri.

This theory stems from a casting call for a character named “Parsons” who is described as “a student that is brainwashed into believing they’re someone else“.

In the books, the character of “False Ciri” was used by the Nilfgaardians to deceive Emperor Emhyr var Emreis. Emhyr sees through the deception but nonetheless makes her the Duchess of Rowan and Ymlac. He later falls in love with her and even marries her, legalizing Nilfgaardian control over Cintra via their union.

Further proof is evidenced by the fact Pooley has been spotted at Longcross Studios and the actor who plays Emhyr, Bart Edwards, also shared an Instagram post confirming he was busy filming more content.

There already was one “False Ciri” in the first season when Queen Calanthe tried to trick Geralt, but we don’t believe those two incidents are related.

Is Henry Cavill still in The Witcher season 3?

As mentioned, yes, Henry Cavill is still in The Witcher season 3. Unfortunately, Henry Cavill, who has starred as Geralt in the first two seasons and will be back for season 3, is leaving The Witcher following the release of season 3.

There are all kinds of rumors about Henry Cavill leaving the series. First, fans assumed Cavill was leaving to return to the DCEU as Superman, but it’s been confirmed that he will, in fact, not be returning. There have also been rumors that Cavill left over creative differences with the show’s writers.

It’s hard to say what exactly is true in this situation. Obviously, there will be more information as we get closer to the release date, but for now, we’re just left to wonder about Cavill’s departure. We already know Cavill’s replacement as Geralt in the series.

Is Liam Hemsworth in The Witcher season 3?

Liam Hemsworth has been tapped to take over for Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in the fourth season of The Witcher.

As of right now, it doesn’t appear that the plan is to introduce Liam Hemsworth in The Witcher season 3. It feels like that would almost be insulting to Cavill to introduce the replacement like that. From the sounds and looks of things, Hemsworth will likely be introduced in The Witcher season 4, but we’ll just have to wait and see in season 3.

As with Cavill’s departure, we obviously don’t know much about Hemsworth’s casting, but that will likely be revealed as we get closer to the release date of season 3 and after, as fans start to speculate and imagine what he could be like.

The Witcher season 3 writers and directors

In terms of who is actually creating the third season, we know that Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is back as showrunner and executive producer. Also executive producing are Tomek Baginski, Jason F. Brown, Sean Daniel, Mike Ostrowski, Steve Gaub and Jarosław Sawko. All of them have produced on all of Netflix’s Witcher projects thus far, sans Ostrowksi and Gaub who have only worked on the main series.

This season will be directed by Stephen Surjik, Gandja Monteiro, Loni Peristere and Bola Ogun. Here’s some intel on each of them:

• Stephen Surjik – Directed the first two episodes of The Witcher season 2 and the first two episodes of season 3. He has directed on multiple other Netflix series, including The Umbrella Academy and Marvel Netflix shows like Iron Fist and Jessica Jones.
• Gandja Monteiro – Expected to direct season 3 episodes 3 and 4. Previously directed episodes of The Chi and Brand New Cherry Flavor.
• Loni Peristere – Previously directed on American Horror Story, American Horror Stories and Warrior.
• Bola Ogun – She directed episodes of Raising Dion and has directed episodes for a few CW shows.

The episodic script writers are Mike Ostrowski, Tania Lotia, Haily Hall, Rae Benjamin, Clare Higgins, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Matthew D’Ambrosio and Troy Dangerfield.

The Witcher season 3 synopsis and storyline

The third season will pick up shortly after season 2, with more people than ever before now trying to capture Ciri. Thankfully, by the end of the second season, Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer were finally on their way to becoming the strong familial unit we know and love. Geralt and Yennefer are now more dedicated than ever before to keeping her safe.

It’s a good thing too, since multiple warring factions are after her, including Nilfgaard and Redania, even some of the elves led by Francesca are looking for the Lion Cub of Cintra. We’ve also got other problems with characters like Jaskier, who is stuck serving Redania at the moment due to Dijkstra and Aretuza is in a state of flux.

To top it all off, we finally got our first glimpse of the Wild Hunt during the second season, although it’s not yet clear what role they will play in season 3 yet.

Netflix released an official synopsis for season 3, which you read right here:

"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.”"

The Witcher fans are upset about a season 3 plot tease

There’s so much drama surrounding this show, and it’s only getting worse as we get closer to the release of the third season on Netflix.

In March 2023, fans are upset about recent comments from producer Graeme Marshall, who spoke to Screen Rant about Blood Origin and the third season. In the interview, Marshall said:

"As far as season 4 is concerned, we haven’t really gotten too heavily involved just yet. But with season 3, we’re in the throes of delivering the final couple of episodes on that, and it’s super cool. I don’t think it’s anything that anyone’s read or seen before in Witcher lore, so I think it’s gonna be exciting."

Fans are obviously concerned that the series, which has been criticized in the past for changes to the source material, will continue to go in a different direction than the books. In the past, Hissrich said that the third season will be the truest to the books, according to EW.

"“What is so interesting is that season 3, to me, is the closest thing that we’ve done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books,” she says. “Obviously, we can’t do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books.”"

It will be really interesting to see how the season turns out. It sounds like Hissrich believes this story is going to stay true to the books. We’ll see this June and July!

The Witcher season 4 is happening

Series showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich previously stated that she had mapped out seven seasons of the show. On top of that, we already learned that The Witcher season 4 is happening with Hemsworth stepping in to replace Cavill.

Netflix is obviously invested in The Witcher as it is one of their biggest shows and they’ve already started work on creating a universe of Witcher projects with a live-action prequel series on the way, a spin-off animated film and at least one more animated feature and a family-friendly series on the way, too.

There is a good chance the show will get to keep going until season 7 and Hissrich will see her vision fulfilled. If not season 7, then I imagine Netflix will at least give her, and fans, notice of a final season before it airs. At the very least, I would be very shocked if the show did not go until at least season 5.

Not only that, but director Stephen Surjik actually confirmed that The Witcher season 4 was already mapped out while chatting to Brigade Radio.

How many episodes will be in The Witcher season 3?

Netflix has confirmed that the third season will consist of eight episodes in total. As mentioned earlier, the first five will be released first in June, and the remaining three will then come out in July.

The first and second seasons both consisted of eight episodes, bringing the grand total of the show to 16 episodes at the moment. It makes sense for season 3 to also have eight episodes, which would bring the episode count to 24.

Stay tuned to Netflix Life for additional updates on The Witcher season 3. The Witcher is on the list of the best Netflix shows to watch right now.