The Witcher Showrunner Teases That Season 2 Will Closely Follow One Of The Books

The highly-anticipated second season of "The Witcher" is due out before the end of the year (via TVLine), and Netflix is rolling out promotional material to get people psyched for what's coming. It's working: The new trailer debuted today, and fans are commenting en masse about the show's better production values, frenetic action, bountiful shirtless Cavill scenes (they hope), and new magical creatures. 

Although most people are still looking forward to Season 2, the show's writers and production staff are already turning their efforts to Season 3, which was greenlit in September even though the second set of episodes hadn't yet been released (via Deadline). While Season 1 adapted parts of Andrzej Sapkowski's short story collections "The Last Wish" and "Sword of Destiny," Season 2 is expected to cover events in the short story "A Grain of Truth." It will also incorporate the first actual novel in "The Witcher" saga, "Blood of Elves," and delve into the second book, "Time of Contempt," as well (via TheGamer).

Now, in a new interview, "The Witcher" showrunner Lauren Hissrich has spoken out about what fans can expect in Season 3. 

Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich appeared at a panel at Lucca Comics and Games, the festival that's taking place this weekend in Italy. CBR reports that she couldn't divulge much about the coming season, but promises that it'll offer a lot for fans who stick with the show after Season 2. "The writers are back in Los Angeles working diligently," she said. "It's a really fun season and it follows a particular book really closely. It has a lot of action, some death."

She did not explain, however, which book Season 3 follows very closely. Given the trajectory of the series so far, it would make sense for the future season to adapt events from "Time of Contempt" and "Baptism of Fire," which are the next books in the series. At this point, though, viewers don't know how much of "Time of Contempt," in which Ciri (Freya Allan) continues her training to become a sorceress, will show up in Season 2's eight episodes. Thus, it's impossible to guess how much will remain to showcase in Season 3. 

It's no surprise that action and death will figure in the series, but it may not be as predictable a path as viewers might expect. So far, "The Witcher" on Netflix hasn't been completely faithful to the novels, changing timelines (via Radio Times), removing some characters (like Nenneke), and otherwise switching things up. So, the idea that it follows whichever book Hissrich is referring to might be a relief to some. Whether or not that's true of Season 2, however, remains to be seen when "The Witcher" returns on December 17, 2021.