Rumor Report: The Witcher Season 3 Will Tackle Yennefer And Geralt's Trust Issues Head-On
No matter how you look at it, "The Witcher" Season 3 is going to be a big one. Not only has the show reached a point where some of the story's truly epic elements could enter the fray, but the season will be Henry Cavill's final one before Liam Hemsworth takes over as Geralt. Cavill's swan song season will arrive on Netflix in the summer of 2023, so the rumors around the show are slowly starting to circulate once more.
One particular rumor, per Redanian Intelligence, addresses the status of Geralt's ever-tumultuous relationship with Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) in the coming season. The ending of "The Witcher" Season 2 left the two on uncomfortable terms due to Yennefer's betrayal, and while the sorceress does her level best to redeem herself in the season's endgame, her treachery is bound to cause at least some fallout in Season 3. According to the new rumors, there'll be an entire story arc in the first and possibly second episode of "The Witcher" Season 3 that focuses on Geralt's slowly returning trust until he eventually feels confident to leave Ciri (Freya Allan) with Yennefer. Part of this plotline would apparently take place during the trio's visit to the May Day-style Belleteyn festival, which is appropriate considering that Belleteyn is Yennefer's birthday in the source material.
It's all very exciting, especially since the rumor says the events will start with Geralt giving Yennefer a full silent treatment — which would allow Cavill to return the character to his gruff, grunting Season 1 roots and possibly even mine the stubborn refusal to communicate for comedy gold. Could there be any truth to it?
The rumor makes sense from a narrative standpoint
It is, of course, early to say whether the rumor is entirely accurate, seeing as we probably won't know what will happen in the first episode or two of "The Witcher" Season 3 until they actually become available for streaming. That being said, a lot of this does make sense from a narrative standpoint.
As mentioned, "The Witcher" Season 2 left us with a ton of huge plotlines that Season 3 will no doubt have to tackle. Apart from Yennefer and Ciri's budding borderline familial relationship that's so important in the source material, there's the revelation that Nilfgaard's Emperor Emhyr var Emreis is actually Ciri's father Duny (Bart Edwards). Of course, the major Wild Hunt tease in the Season 2 finale will also likely come into play in the upcoming episodes ... and frankly, it would be kind of weird to see Henry Cavill leave the show before coming face to face with one of the most notorious enemy factions in the franchise.
All of this is a lot to cover in one of "The Witcher's" eight-episode seasons, especially if Geralt's lingering issues with Yennefer suck precious minutes from the episodes. As such, it does make a certain amount of sense that the show would realign the pair post haste, almost as an early side quest of sorts.
The rumored sequence of events doesn't quite line up with the source material
While it's pretty clear that Geralt and Yennefer probably aren't in the best possible place at the beginning of Season 3, comments by "The Witcher" showrunner and creator Lauren Hissrich seem to clash with the rumor about the pair clearing up the air early on.
Hissrich has told Entertainment Weekly that Season 3 will follow one book in "The Witcher" series by Andrzej Sapkowski quite faithfully. Since Netflix has already revealed that Ciri and Yennefer will travel to Aretuza, said book will quite likely be "Time of Contempt." It's true that the book features scenes where Yennefer and Geralt patch things up, but this doesn't happen until fairly deep in the story, which would indicate that either the rumor is wrong, or the show is far more willing to move things around than Hissrich's comments seemed to indicate. "The Witcher" has tinkered with the source material before, so perhaps the show has simply opted to move the Yennefer-Geralt moments to the season's beginning to keep things streamlined. Then again, perhaps these rumors are simply unfounded. We'll see what's up when "The Witcher" Season 3 premieres on Netflix.