The Witcher season 3: release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more

The Witcher season 3 is one week away (at the timing of this article update, anyway) from being released. We suspect, then, that you're gearing up for the darkest, most fantastical return to the Continent yet.

And with good reason, too. In our view, The Witcher is one of the best Netflix shows around, so we can't wait to be reunited with Geralt and company for what will be Henry Cavill's final hurrah as the titular hero. But we'll get into more details on that shocking development later on.

For now, you'll be wanting to learn even more about The Witcher's third outing on Netflix. Below, we've compiled the most important information you need to know before the high fantasy series' return. That includes its two release dates (more on this shortly), cast list, trailers, plot specifics, the show's future, and more.

Major spoilers follow for The Witcher season 2 and spin-off show The Witcher: Blood Origin on the world's best streaming service. Potential spoilers are also incoming for The Witcher season 3 and Andrzej Sapkowski's book series, which the show is based on.

The Witcher season 3 release date

The Witcher season 3's release date was revealed in April – and it's coming in two parts. Volume 1, which contains five episodes, launches on June 29. Volume 2 will debut one month later on July 27, with the final three episodes making up this installment.

Funnily enough, showrunner Lauren Hissrich previously told Collider that Netflix "wouldn't rule" splitting the third season into two parts. Clearly, then, this plan was always on the cards.

With the series returning very soon, Netflix has also revealed the titles for the first five episodes, which you can view in the Twitter thread below:

The Witcher season 3 trailer

The Witcher season 3's official trailer was released on June 7. And, in our opinion, it's clearly set up in a way that proves the TV series could have survived without Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia as its lead star. But hey, that's just our take on the footage.

Not content with showing off a two-minute-long sizzle reel to hype fans up ahead of release, Netflix debuted season 3's first extended clip at Tudum 2023, too. In it, we see Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer trying to fend off Rience and a horde of elves who have come looking for Cintra's powerful princess. Check it out below:

Lastly, here's the third season's first teaser, which debuted in April alongside its launch date announcement:

The Witcher season 3 cast

Here's The Witcher season 3's confirmed cast so far:

• Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia 
• Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg 
• Freya Allen as Princess Cirilla of Cintra 
• Joey Batey as Jaskier 
• Myanna Buring as Tissaia de Vries 
• Eamon Farren as Cahir 
• Mimî M. Khayisa as Fringilla Vigo 
• Royce Pierreson as Istredd 
• Anna Shaffer as Triss Merigold 
• Mahesh Jadu as Vilgefortz 
• Mecia Simson as Francesca Findabair 
• Tom Canton as Filavandrel 
• Graham McTavish as Sigismund Dijkstra 
• Cassie Clare as Philippa Einhart 
• Hugh Skinner as Prince Radovid
• Wilson Mbomio as Dara 
• Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor 
• Terence Maynard as Artorius Vigo 
• Simon Callow as Codringher
• Liz Carr as Fenn
• Therica Wilson-Read as Sabrina 
• Safiyya Ingar as Keira
• Rochelle Rose as Margarita
• Michalina Olszanska as Marti 
• Robbie Amell as Gallatin 
• Jeremy Crawford as Yarpen 
• Bart Edwards as Duny/Emperor Emhyr, aka The White Flame of Nilfgaard 
• Aisha Fabienne Ross as Lydia 
• Christelle Elwin as Mistle 
• Meng’er Zhang as Milva
• Sam Woolf as Rience 

Many of the above have featured heavily in the show's previous seasons, but those who haven’t should see their roles expanded.

Emperor Emhyr might be one of the latter. The season 2 finale revealed Duny – the knight Geralt saved in season 1 and who also happens to be Ciri’s father – is not only still alive, but he’s the leader (aka The White Flame) of Nilfgaard’s forces. And he wants to be reunited with Ciri, so he can use her abilities for nefarious means... or does he? Speaking to Netflix Tudum, Hissrich suggests Emhyr just "wants is his daughter back". There's bound to be more than meets the eye here, but we can't wait to find out either way.

Philippa Einhart featured fleetingly in season 2 but, based on what we know of her book counterpart, she has a bigger role to play. That extends to Sigismund Dijkstra, too, with the kingdom of Redania becoming more prominent as the plot in the books unfolds. Per Collider, the pair will be shown to be in a kinky relationship of sorts.

We'd expect King Vizimir of Redania (Ed Birch), Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross), Nenneke (Adjoa Andoh), Gage (Kaine Zajaz), and Eredin (Sam Hazeldine) to return as well, but Netflix hasn't confirmed their involvement yet.

Meanwhile, four new actors joined the cast in April 2022, including Shang-Chi's Meng'er Zhang and Upload's Robbie Amell. Read more about them in our Witcher season 3 cast update explainer.

Potential season 3 cast spoilers follow.

Witcher fansite Redanian Intelligence has claimed 10 other actors – two in one article, six in another, and two more in separate news stories – have been cast. Netflix hasn't confirmed these hires, but we've listed them below as some of their character identities may interest diehard fans:

• Stuart Thompson as Fabio Sachs
• Jim Sturgeon as Applegatt, a royal messenger of King Demavend of Aedirn
• Ryan Hayes as Artaud Terranova, a mage who participates in the Thanedd Coup
• Josh Weller as Valdo Marx, a bard rival of Joey Batey's Jaskier
• Kate Winter as Putney
• Martyn Ellis as Barker
• Michalina Olszanska as TBC
• Sean Cernow as TBC
• Harvey Quinn as TBC
• Poppy Almond as TBC

Another Redanian Intelligence leak claims The Rings of Power season 1's Fabian McCallum will play Kayleigh, a member of a teenage misfit gang known as The Rats. Redanian Intelligence also suggests Hiftu Quasem (Killing Eve) has joined the cast as iconic character Falka.

Two actors not returning are Blair Kincaid and Chris Fulton, who played Crach an Craite in season 1 and Rience in season 2. Redanian Intelligence says Fulton has been replaced by Sam Woolf (The Crown, Humans). Vikings Valhalla star Johannes Haukur Johannesson has reportedly been cast as Crach for season 3 (via Redanian Intelligence).

Elsewhere, two Blood Origin actors – Minnie Driver and Samuel Blenkin – could appear in the main show. Driver's Seanchai is a shape-shifting time traveler who met Jaskier in the spin-off series, so she may reunite with him at some stage. Meanwhile, Blenkin's Avallac'h was revealed as the individual Ciri spots in that doorway in the first season. Avallac'h appears in the final two books but, given Netflix's live-action adaptation has played loose and fast with the novels, he could be shoehorned into The Witcher season 3.

Lastly, Redanian Intelligence suggests a new villain known as The Professor will also appear, with the same website suggesting Sunny Patel (Vox Machina) will play this character.

The Witcher season 3 plot

Major spoilers follow for The Witcher TV series and the novels.

Here's the official plot synopsis for The Witcher season 3, courtesy of Netflix: "As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. 

"Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where they hope to uncover more about the girl’s untapped powers. Instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line – or risk losing each other forever."

Elaborating on what we can expect from the third season, Hissrich told Netflix Tudum: "As viewers know, over the years their relationship has been equal parts elation and heartbreak, coming together and being ripped apart, dreaming of a future and accepting that it’s never that easy. This season is no different. Our family [Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer] wants nothing more than to finally be together. Will that happen? Yes. Will it last? Stay tuned.

"For any fans who are familiar with The Time of Contempt novel, there’s an epic event that explodes the Continent as we know it – the lead-up to which provided a perfect cliff-hanger for us. We couldn’t have planned it better.”

In December 2021, Hissrich exclusively told TechRadar that season 3 will be based on the fourth novel in Sapkowski's book series, aka. The Time of Contempt, so expect explosive drama and lots of thrilling fantasy-based action.

Chatting to Collider, Hissrich also said she wanted to follow the books more closely this season, and that it'll incorporate plot points from other novels in the series. She also teased a "big story from Blood of Elves", the first novel in The Witcher saga, will be part of the overarching narrative. However, VFX supervisor Sébastien Francoeur and producer Graeme Marshall revealed (via ScreenRant) that season 3 will include things that nobody has "read or seen before in Witcher lore". It sounds, then, that the show's next installment will still deviate from its source material on occasion.

But fans can expect more in the way of surrogate familial drama to play out between Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. As Cavill told Netflix Tudum: "Geralt has been very nonchalant about these threats of war and famine and the end times. He’s like, 'Look. I’ve been there, done that. It’s not the end times. It’s just going to be another fight'. [But now] everyone is after Ciri. That changes his entire perspective on things."

Hissrich added: "What I think is really fun about this season is you get Geralt, Ciri and Yen. They’re linked by destiny. Yet clearly, by this point, they want to be together. And so that’s more than destiny. Suddenly that’s a choice. Family is worth fighting for."

The Witcher season 3 also offers the chance for Ciri to finally step up and take destiny into her own hands. "It’s a really emotional journey for Ciri and her development," Allan told Netflix Tudum. "At the beginning of season 1, she still feels like a young teenager and by the end, she does really seem like she’s grown up."

And what of Yennefer and Jaskier? Anya Chalotra teases the former is "struck by this newfound family... she always wanted to become a mother", while Joey Batey jokes Jaskier is about to embark on "his hot girl summer". Color us intrigued (and read more about this story beat in our spoiler section below).

Meanwhile, despite being teased in April's first-look trailer, The Wild Hunt won't feature heavily. "We all know that, eventually, Geralt is going to learn a little bit more about the Wild Hunt, as will Ciri, but right now it stays this ever-looming threat to her," Hissrich explained to Entertainment Weekly (EW). "One of the things that I love in the books that Sapkowski did beautifully is he teases the Wild Hunt for so long. They pop up, then they go away for a while. So we are definitely sticking to that school."

Major spoilers follow for Sapkowski's book series, which might form part of season 3. Proceed at your own risk.

There are only two major Blood of Elves book-based storylines not included in season 2. The first concerns the Scoia’tael, a group of non-human guerillas who fight for Nilfgaard and attack Geralt, Ciri, Triss, and Yarpen Zigrin’s dwarven contingent. Hissrich exclusively told TechRadar that the Scoia'tael will appear in season 3, so this Blood of Elves storyline will be adapted in some guise. 

The second plot beat is far more important. It relates to Geralt telling Ciri about the roses of Aelirenn, an elf who led the last band of their kin against an invading human army. Aelirenn’s forces were massacred by their foes and, given that only young elves can produce offspring, the demise of Aelirenn’s forces inadvertently led to the elves’ slow march towards extinction. Expect this to tie back into events concerning Francesca and her murdered elven baby in season 2.

Elsewhere, Redanian Intelligence says the thrilling battle between Geralt and Vilgefortz in The Time of Contempt has been included. That'll come as no surprise to some readers, as this frenetic and bloody fight is one of two major events (per Redanian Intelligence) that'll play out in the third season. One is an elegant ball attended by numerous mages and Geral, while the other is the Thanedd Coup, which sees mages loyal to Nilfgaard and the North clash in a bloody battle that costs many lives. We see snippets of both sequences in season 3's official trailer.

Redanian Intelligence also claims Ciri will be involved in two other moments pulled straight from the books. The  first involves Wyverns, which might see her rescue Fabio Sachs, while the second sees her lost in the Korath Desert. Long time fans will know all about the importance of this latter sequence and, per Collider, this will form an entire episode in season 3 – the first to feature Ciri as the main protagonist, no less.

Away from the action, Redanian Intelligence has reported that a beloved moment between Geralt and Yennefer has been included in season 3. Jaskier could become as popular with the ladies (and guys) as Geralt is, too. Actor Joey Batey told Total Film: "Jaskier gets a little bit of a love interest – maybe more than one". Hissrich confirmed to Netflix Tudum that Jaskier is bisexual.

But Jaskier won't just be loving it up in season 3. He'll also be trying to unsuccessfully evade Dijkstra and Philippa, with the pair calling in a return favor from Jaskier – season 2 revealed they were funding his scheme to help oppressed elves escape the Northerm Realms – this time around. That's why Philippa has him at knife point (or, rather, fingernail point) in the teaser.

The Witcher season 3: future seasons and spin-offs

Netflix renewed The Witcher for a fourth season in October 2022. Speaking to Deadline, casting director Sophie Holland revealed that the cast and crew "are just about to start filming". 

Surprisingly, Holland also all but confirming a fifth season has been greenlit. Hissrich previously  told Collider she’s mapped out a seven-season arc, but it's unclear how both seasons will be impacted by the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.

Regardless, the TV show will be moving forward without Henry Cavill. The Witcher season 3 will mark his end as Geralt, with Liam Hemsworth taking over from season 4 onwards. No reason has been given about Cavill's departure, but Redanian Intelligence suggests Cavill didn't agree with creative deviations from Sapkowski's source material. Hissrich has since told Total Film magazine that the series could have also ended with Cavill's departure.

Speaking exclusively to TechRadar, Hissrich said she "fully understands" fans' frustrations over Cavill leaving, before elaborating to EW that Cavill's Geralt will get a "heroic send off".

Spin-off wise, The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel series covered the story of the first Witcher's creation and finally introduced audiences to key character Avallac'h. Blood Origin also followed events leading up to and during the Conjunction of the Spheres, the cataclysm that results in the collision of multiple universes and their human, elven, and monstrous races. Minnie Driver, who played the time-traveling Seanchai in Blood Origin, wants her character to cross over into the main series and hang out with Geralt.

Other spin-offs currently in development reportedly include a family-friendly animated series and a second anime movie. Redanian Intelligence hints that a spin-off involving other Witchers could be in the works, while another of the website's articles suggests a show centered on The Rats, who will make their live-action debut in The Witcher season 3, is coming. Dolph Lundgren recently joined The Rats' cast, according to South African outlet Aftonbladet.

For more Witcher-based content, check out these five bloody fantasy shows while we wait for its third season. Alternatively, find out how to read The Witcher books in order.