Netflix’s The Witcher won’t bring back its divisive multi-timeline story structure when it returns for season 2 next year. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich reiterated this decision in favor of one timeline while speaking to The Wrap. She says that Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s storylines have all converged at this point, resulting in a second season that will be much more straightforward:
So what we’ll see in Season 2 is that all of our characters are existing on the same timeline. What that allows us to do storywise though is to play with time in slightly different ways. We get to do flashbacks, we get to do flash-forwards, we get to actually integrate time in a completely different way that we weren’t able to do in Season 1. Because, if you can imagine, if we were in three different timelines (in Season 1) and then flashed forward or flashed back, we would have been in four or five or six timelines — even I know that’s too much. So I think it will be a lot easier for the audience (to) follow and understand, especially a new audience coming in. But there are still going to be some fun challenges with time.
On the topic of the criticized storytelling in The Witcher season 1, Hissrich confessed that she didn’t expect such a negative reaction. She said that giving Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer separated storylines is something she still stands behind, saying that the “goal was to get to know each of these characters individually, and the only (way) to do that was to separate their timelines.”
Another change coming in The Witcher season 2 is the inclusion of Geralt’s friend and mentor, Vesemir. The Netflix show has tapped Pusher and Killing Eve actor Kim Bodnia to play Vesemir, as well as a number of other actors for new roles.
The coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to many productions across the globe, and Netflix’s The Witcher is no exception. Production on the show was halted earlier this year, but it may resume soon.
