‘The Witcher’ showrunner responds to fan concerns over season two death

**Spoilers ahead**

The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has addressed a controversial plot point in season two which differs greatly from the source material.

Based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski, the second season of The Witcher features the death of Geralt of Rivia’s friend Eskel (Basil Eidenbenz) – who also undergoes a noticeable personality shift compared to the first season.

Addressing fan concerns on Twitter, Hissrich teased we’ll discover more about Eskel’s death and the relationship between Geralt (Henry Cavill), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan) in the next season.

Advertisement

“It’s December 21st. The show came out four days ago, and of course, after spending 2.5 years of my life on it, I’m curious what fans are saying (not just critics). That’s an understatement. I cannot stay away,” Hissrich tweeted.

“I want to assure them I hear them, they’re not screaming into a void. But I don’t have time – or shouldn’t take THIS time – to get into a long debate on why Eskel died, or when G/Y/C will bond. (Psst S3).”

Hissrich explained the reasoning behind Eskel’s death during Netflix’s Unlocked show, which dives into spoilers around the second season.

“We knew we had to kill someone in that episode,” Hissrich said. “The very first version of the script we wrote was a brand-new Witcher we had never met before. All of sudden we were like, ‘Oh, our audience is going to meet Coen and Lambert and Eskel and John. Who’s going to die? John is going to die.”

She added: “We thought about it really hard. I know there are fans that love Eskel and feel ‘Why would we do that?’ but, honestly, his death is what changes everything for Geralt. I think it propels Geralt’s need to figure out what’s going on with Ciri, and to do it fast, because he knows he’s going to risk losing her and his brothers if he doesn’t.”

Advertisement

A post-credits scene in The Witcher season two revealed the trailer for prequel series Blood Origin, starring Michelle Yeoh, Laurence O’Fuarain and Sophia Brown.

The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell tales from the medieval world of the Continent before the ‘Conjunction of the Spheres’, the mysterious pivotal event in the original Witcher books that caused humans, elves and monsters to reside in the same world.

The six-episode series is set to be released in 2022 on Netflix.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories