Netflix has finally announced an official release date for The Witcher season 3 – well, two launch dates, in fact.
Confirming the news via press release, Netflix has revealed that the next installment of its hit fantasy series has been split into two volumes. The first part of The Witcher season 3, which contains the first five episodes, will arrive on June 29. The final three episodes – aka The Witcher season 3 volume 2 – will launch a month later, on July 27.
To celebrate the announcement, Netflix also released a first-look teaser, which suggests our heroes – Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, and Jaskier – are in for their toughest test yet when one of the best Netflix shows returns this summer (or winter, for those in the southern hemisphere).
Check out the teaser below:
That's not all, either. Netflix has released an official plot synopsis and teaser poster alongside the teaser trailer and release date announcements, both of which you can read and see below.
"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," the synopsis reads.
"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."
Family’s worth fighting for. pic.twitter.com/9oTLfHtgwuApril 25, 2023
Before this release date announcement, we knew that The Witcher season 3 would adapt the second book in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher book series, aka the Time of Contempt. With the release of The Witcher: Blood Origin, an original prequel series set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher, in December 2022, too, it's likely that the mainline show's third season will pick up story strands from that miniseries. Here's hoping that one Blood Origin star gets their wish to share a scene with lead star Henry Cavill when season 3 arrives.
A bittersweet announcement for Witcher fans
It's high time we received an official release date for The Witcher's third season. Speaking exclusively to TechRadar during The Witcher season 2's UK junket in December 2021, showrunner Lauren Hissrich confirmed that season 3's scripts were still being penned, meaning it would be a while before the series would return to the world's best streaming service.
Thankfully, the wait wasn't as long as we expected. Netflix confirmed that filming had begun on season 3 in March 2022, with The Witcher's next season getting a number of magical cast upgrades in early April. Principal photography wrapped in September, too, with Netflix celebrating that fact by announcing that The Witcher season 3 would debut on its platform in Q2 2023 during the 2022 edition of its Tudum virtual fan festival.
One month later, Netflix announced that The Witcher would be returning for a fourth season. It was a bittersweet moment for diehard Witcher fans, though, with Cavill announcing that he won't be back as Geralt of Rivia for the show's fourth season. Liam Hemsworth will take up the mantle of Geralt from season 4 onwards.
Nobody involved in the show has explained why Cavill is leaving, but Hissrich exclusively told TechRadar that she "fully understands" why fans are angry about Cavill's impending departure. With the series' third installment set to be fully released by the end of July, we should learn more about why Cavill is parting ways with the rest of the cast and crew soon.
In the meantime, here are those important release dates again: The Witcher season 3 volume 1 launches on June 29, with volume 2 arriving on July 27. And, if you're looking for something Witcher-esque to stream ahead of the third season's arrival, watch these five bloody fantasies before it does so.
