Not sure about The Witcher season 4 episode 5? The Netflix show's spin-off potential is ‘intentional’ according to Laurence Fishburne and Joey Batey

Warning: Spoilers for The Witcher season 4 ahead.

As it turns out, The Witcher season 4 is full of surprises. The new series of the hit Netflix show brings back people from the dead, almost kills the ones we want to last until the end and leaves us on a cliffhanger that could mean season 5 is changed for good (though no spoilers here).

Funnily enough, it's not even Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia that's causing me to bat an eyelid. Somehow, he's become a side character in his own story, and I hardly noticed that he'd taken over from Henry Cavill at all. However, that doesn't mean that there wasn't a huge surprise waiting for me.

Instead of the season's final episode being the reason why my jaw hit the floor, it was season 4 episode 5. Just when we think we've got our heads around the ever-growing Witcher lore, we're thrown the ultimate creative curveball at the halfway mark.

As the impending season 5 is officially the final season of the main series, I think episode 5 could be teeing two characters up for spinoffs in the future – and the cast agrees with me.

'That was the intention': How The Witcher season 4 episode 5 could lead to future spin-offs

The Witcher season 4 episode 5 is a smorgasbord of everything you didn't see coming. While Geralt's group (aka Hanza) tell each other stories around the fire, we learn more about Jaskier (Joey Batey) through a colorful musical number and Regis' (Laurence Fishburne) backstory through animated flashbacks.

Given the fact that The Witcher franchise already has animated films like Nightmare of the Wolf alongside other creative branches (think its books, games and comics), I don't think it's a huge stretch to assume episode 5 could be a great springboard for Jaskier and Regis spin-offs.

"I think that was the intention, wasn't it? A moment of respite," Batey tells me. "Season 4 is so relentless, so pacy. There's so much going on, and then we finally get to sit around break bread around a campfire and tell the stories, discover these characters a little bit more. And it was a joy to shoot.

"There was so much laughter on that set. People were writing raps, singing songs. We still have all these in jokes that will stay with us forever. And I think that's what that episode first of all, embedded in the cast, but also hopefully reveals in the characters as well."

As it stands, both characters are alive at the end of season 4... despite the odds. Jaskier was nearly killed twice – once by a graveyard demon just before he met Regis, and once in battle – while Regis was shot in the heart with an arrow in episode 8. As Regis reminds us, "much of what humans know isn't the truth," and both live to see another day.

We've got no idea if the same will be true in The Witcher season 5, but regardless, there's a lot of sequel potential here. Netflix isn't just going to let The Witcher, one of its most successful IPs, quietly end after season 5, so why not plant some seeds for future projects while you can? Personally, I'd pay to see them both.

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