It has been a long wait for The Witcher fans, with the first season of the extremely popular television series premiering on Netflix in December 2019 and the second season being delayed due to the ongoing pandemic. However, in the past few weeks, a lot of new information has been released for the upcoming season, including a December 2021 release date. Now, producer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has revealed what inspired the season 2 premiere episode's plot.
“I am so excited that in Season 2 we get to bring one of my favorite short stories to life,” she is heard saying in a new featurette released by Netflix Geeked on Twitter. Hissrich confirmed that the premiere episode of the upcoming season of The Witcher will be adapting “A Grain of Truth,” a short story written by Andrzej Sapkowski, revealing some major story details for the first episode.
Hissrich jokingly refers to the news as "the worst-kept secret" because the title of the first episode itself is “A Grain of Truth.” The titles of the first seven episodes of The Witcher season 2 were revealed during The WitcherCon, with the eighth title being kept a secret for now. It has been confirmed that the second season will have eight episodes, contrary to previous news reports about a 10-episode season 2.
As part of the new featurette, Hissrich describes “A Grain of Truth” as the “perfect kick-off for season two.” The short story introduces Geralt to Nivellen, portrayed by Kristofer Hivju in The Witcher season 2. During his ventures, Geralt happens to come across a rundown manor where Nivellen, a nobleman who has been cursed and transformed into a hairy beast, lives. Despite his appearance, Geralt is able to find humanity in this monstrous man, which fans will find to be a great way to reintroduce him to Geralt of Rivia, wonderfully portrayed by Henry Cavill in the series.
However, The Witcher series does make one small change to the short story by adding Ciri into the tale. Hissrich describes the adaptation as the “story of a father and daughter coming together in a place that doesn’t quite feel safe for them.” This, along with the previous teaser trailers released for season 2 of The Witcher, confirms that Geralt and Ciri will be traveling together after reuniting at the end of the first season.
The news of the short story adaptation has fans excited, and the theories about what direction the second season would go in have started flowing in already. Fans can't be blamed for speculating considering the wait for season 2 has been grueling due to pandemic delays and even an injury sustained by Cavill during production. Hopefully, once season 2 of The Witcher premieres on Netflix this holiday season, fans will find it has been well worth the extended wait.
The Witcher will return to Netflix for its second season on December 17, 2021.
Source: Netflix Geeked/Twitter