Showrunner Lauren Hissrich (The Umbrella Academy, Daredevil) recently told Entertainment Weekly some news regarding the ever-looming threat of the Wild Hunt in the Netflix series The Witcher. In her interview with EW, she talked about how they plan to follow Andrzej Sapkowski’s (Blood of Elves, The Tower of Fools) work closely and have the Wild Hunt “pop up, then they go away for a while.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, the Wild Hunt first appeared in the season two finale, but that doesn’t mean that they will have an immediate appearance on the show. Hissrich also mentioned in the interview that the seven spectral riders, known as the Wild Hunt, first appeared on the show’s pilot and will remain “an ever-looming threat” in the new season.
In season two, the sorceress Triss Merigold, played by Anna Shaffer (Hollyoaks, Harry Potter), uses magic to learn more about the origin of Ciri’s, played by Freya Allan (Gunpowder Milkshake, The Third Day), magic. This attempt to find out more about her magic gives the princess a terrifying vision of the Wild Hunt riders.
At some point in the second season Voleth Meir, better known as the Deathless Mother, played by Ania Marson (Ghosts, See How They Run), was introduced. She is a malevolent entity who feeds on despair and is also part of the Wild Hunt. In the episode “Kaer Morhen”, she possesses Ciri and uses her body to kill witchers and to summon monsters inside Kaer Morhen, the secret sanctuary of the witchers. During the season two finale, Ciri is transported to another world with Geralt, played by Henry Cavill (Enola Holmes, Justice League), and Yennefer, played by Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust, The ABC Murders), where they see the Wild Hunt charging towards them.
Hissrich also told Entertainment Weekly that eventually, both Geralt and Ciri will learn more about the Wild Hunt but at the moment, they remain an ever-looming threat to Ciri. She is having a hard time figuring it out and can’t quite get the hang of it yet.
The Wild Hunt gets a better explanation in an episode of The Witcher after-show where Hissrich explained more about this new threat to casual viewers of the Netflix show. Watch the explanation below.
The Witcher follows three different perspectives at different points in time. One of the characters it follows is Geralt, a monster hunter known as a witcher as he realizes he has a bigger part to play in the Continent’s destiny. The other character is Yennefer, a young woman who discovers she has magical abilities and is sent to train and hone her magic to be of service to a kingdom of the Continent. The last character the show follows is Ciri, a young princess who lives with her grandmother Queen Calanthe, played by Jodhi May (Gentleman Jack, The Silent Twins), and her life takes a wrong turn when her kingdom is destroyed in a war that leaves all her family dead and her running.
Season three of The Witcher will premiere sometime in the summer of 2023 on Netflix. Seasons one and two of the show are available to watch on Netflix. Don’t forget to check out the new Witcher prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin that premiered on December 25th on Netflix.