Ep. 76 — Netflix's The Witcher Season 3
Elsa from the UK and James from the US join Alyssa for our pre-premiere discussion of Netflix’s The Witcher Season 3. Very important bits include: our standout moments from Season 1 and 2, our characters to watch, and our wildest Season 3 predictions.
This episode is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher.
In this Episode
[00:00] Cold Open
[01:24] Introduction
[04:37] Guest Introductions
[10:40] Standout Moments from S1 & S2
[16:12] S3 of The Witcher
[30:21] Characters to Watch
[40:31] ‘Tidings from Toussaint’, Mid-Episode News Segment
[44:41] ‘Dear Friend’, Listener Call-in Segment
[46:03] Wildest S3 Predictions
[51:54] Easter Eggs
[58:01] Why You Should Watch S3
[1:02:27] Outro & Credits
Relevant Links
Transcript
Cold Open
Transcript to come.
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by Alex Berner]
Introduction
ALYSSA: Welcome to Breakfast in Beauclair, a global Witcher Podcast. My name is Alyssa from GoodMorhen, and I’ll be your host as you, I, and our international hanza accompany Geralt of Rivia and his destiny, Cirilla of Cintra, across the Continent.
[Announcements]
Welcome to Season 5 of Breakfast in Beauclair, in which we’ll be covering Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Season 3. We’ll circle back around to Andrzej Sapkowski’s Time of Contempt for Season 6. If you’re new to the podcast, hello! I’m Alyssa, I’ve been hosting and producing this podcast about The Witcher books and show for the last four years. Breakfast in Beauclair provides a uniquely international lens on the series by hosting discussions with guests from all around the world.
Season 3, Part 2 Discussion Party: Saturday, July 29, 11AM PST / 2PM EST / 7PM GMT / 8PM CET in the Hanza Discord at bit.ly/thehanzadiscord.
Vienna Hanza Meetup: Our next stop on the Hanza Meetup tour after Belfast, Boston, and Melbourne is Vienna! Join us in Austria from October 20-23, 2023 and check the Hanza Discord for travel details.
[Patron Announcements]
Thanks as always to our podcast patrons over on Patreon and our producer-level patrons: Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
If you’ve enjoyed the last 75 episodes of Breakfast in Beauclair, consider supporting the show on Patreon! Monetary support for the show goes toward hosting and website services, episode transcriptions for Deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our community, original music for the podcast, original artwork, recording equipment, and more. Learn more about donating to the show at patreon.com/breakfastinbeauclair.
[Episode Details]
As for this episode, Elsa from the UK and James from the US call in for a pre-premiere discussion of The Witcher Season 3. Join us as we discuss our standout moments from Season 1 and 2, our characters to watch, and our wildest Season 3 predictions.
In our mid-episode news segment, “Tidings from Toussaint,” Lars from Witcherflix shares news on The Witcher Season 3 and Season 4.
Without further ado, let’s get to our pre-premiere discussion of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Season 3.
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by Alex Berner]
Transcript to come.
ALYSSA: Today, we’ll begin our discussion of Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Season 3 with our pre-premiere predictions and things to watch. At the time of recording, we have a week to go, but at the time of release, the show would’ve been out for a week. Here are the predictions I recorded before the show aired… let’s see if we’re right. Here’s a quick synopsis of the last two seasons:
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Cirilla of Cintra, an orphaned princess, comes under the care of Geralt of Rivia, a witcher and monster slayer. Ciri’s royal lineage, her supernatural powers, and her rare Elder Blood put her at the center of a Continent-wide manhunt: kings, emperors, and sorcerers are after her—alive or dead. In order to keep his ward safe, Geralt took Ciri to the remote witcher’s keep, Kaer Morhen. There, she learned new skills: how to fight people and monsters… including Voleth Meir, one of the spectral riders of the Wild Hunt. The season ends with Geralt’s on-and-off again love, Yennefer, nearly sacrificing Ciri before vowing to help the girl control her powers instead.
Meanwhile, war and division ravage the Continent, pitting the Northern Kingdoms against the Nilfgaardian Empire. Nilfgaardian agents have been searching for the Cintran princess and at the end of Season 2, we discover that Ciri’s biological father is none other than their emperor, Emhyr var Emreis.
The spin-off series ‘Blood Origin’ details the Conjunction of the Spheres and the events leading to the human invasion of the Continent. At the center of the story are the stellacite monoliths that dot the present landscape, which are revealed to open portals through time and space.
Transcript to come.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Before we continue our discussion, we’re going to hand it over to Lars from WitcherFlix for recent news on the Netflix show. When we come back, Elsa, James, and I will continue our pre-premiere discussion of ‘The Witcher’ Season 3.
“Tidings from Toussaint”
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by Alex Berner]
LARS FROM WITCHERFLIX: Hey, it's Lars from WitcherFlix and this is "Tidings from Toussaint". The break is over, welcome back everybody to a another installment of the latest news about Netflix's The Witcher shows. As I am sure you already know, Netflix has released the first five episodes of The Witcher's Season 3. It was quite a ride. We still have three weeks to go until we will be able to watch the remaining three episodes of Season 3: Netflix will release Season 3, Volume 2 on July 27.
Volume 1 ended on a big cliffhanger that promises some exciting things in the next three episodes. Episode 5, named "The Art of Illusion", showed us the spectacular Thanedd Ball and the new episodes will deal with its aftermath. Episode 5 director Loni Peristere talked about shooting the big Thanedd Ball episode on his Instagram: “I moved to London last year to make a few hours of The Witcher. As a fan of the game and then the books, making this particular arc with Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra was a blessing. Anya and Henry gave 100 percent all the time. Their care for The Witcher source material and their stewardship of these characters is exemplary. […] The Art of Illusion featured an elaborate ball which featured our entire cast working and dancing across a night of intrigue. It was a wonderful challenge and truly a joy to make.”
Unfortunately, the remaining three episodes of Season 3 will also be the final three episodes of Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. In Season 4, the witcher will be played by Liam Hemsworth. In promotion interviews for the new season, showrunner Lauren Hissrich has talked about Henry Cavill leaving ‘The Witcher’. In a GamesRadar interview, she said: “It was time for him in his life to move on […] I think we’ve all been mourning this in our own way. […] I mean, we had the choice to have Geralt exit and to end the show. [But] that’s not something that we were willing to do. There’s just too many stories left to tell. […] If we replaced Geralt with another Witcher, we would be going fully away from the books, and I don’t think that’s what anyone wanted either." About the new Geralt, Liam Hemsworth, Lauren Hissrich said: "We’re all excited about Liam coming in. […] He’s got enormous shoes to fill, but also has a lot of energy and a lot of excitement for it. It’s obviously a brand-new chapter for us. And there’s a lot of feelings involved. But at the end of the day, we love what we’re doing. So we’re gonna keep going."
A big question in the fan community is how the tranistion from Henry to Liam will take place next season. Witcher executive producers Tomek Baginski and Steve Gaub talked to Yahoo.com exactly about this. They promised a “lore accurate transition”. They said: “We have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam. Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler, [but] it’s also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five. […] It’s very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless. But at the same time it will be a new Geralt, it will be a new face for this character and I think it will also be very, very exciting to see.” It is going to be very interesting to see how this transition will go. From this comment, I think there will be a specific reason in the show's plot for why Geralt looks differently. They will not change the actors without any character mentioning it.
At this point, I don't want to give too much away about Season 3, Volume 2 and beyond, so I will not really talk a lot about the remaining three episodes. Thanks to leaks from the set and the book Time of Contempt that is being adapted, we have learned that there will be a protective forest we already know about, a desert with a very special "horse" in it and the early beginnings of the forming of a group of people that is known as the “Hansa”.
Anyway guys, that's it for me for today. We'll talk again in the next episode of Breakfast in Beauclair. I hope you all stay safe and well. Until then, thanks again for listening and good luck on the path!
[“Tidings from Toussaint” theme music by Alex Berner]
Call-In Segment
[Music Alex Berner]
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hi everyone! Welcome to our listener call-in segment, “Dear Friend…”. Keep on listening as members of our international hanza share their thoughts on what we’re discussing in this episode:
MINDY: Transcript to come.
MICHELLE: Transcript to come.
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Thanks to Mindy and Michelle for sending in their thoughts on The Witcher Season 3! Hear your voice in a future “Dear Friend…” segment by emailing greetings@breakfastinbeauclair.com or DMing the podcast on social for more information.
[Music Alex Berner]
Discussion
[Breakfast in Beauclair stinger by Alex Berner]
ALYSSA (VOICEOVER): Hey everyone! Welcome back from the break. When we left off, Elsa, James, and I were discussing our thoughts on ‘The Witcher’ Season 3.
Transcript to come.
Outro & Credits
[Breakfast in Beauclair theme music by Alex Berner]
ALYSSA: Thanks for joining us at the breakfast table! For show notes, transcripts of each episode, and a complete list of our social platforms and listening services, head over to breakfastinbeauclair.com.
Breakfast in Beauclair is created by Alyssa from GoodMorhen. It’s hosted by Alyssa with the “Tidings from Toussaint” News Segment by Lars from WitcherFlix. The show is edited by Alyssa with music by Alex Berner.
Breakfast in Beauclair is produced by Alyssa in New York City with Katie (The Redhead of Toussaint), Jacob B., Bee Haven of the Edge of the World, Charlotte from Vengerberg Glamarye, The Original Roach, Codringher’s Cat, Libby, John of Ryblia, Tom from Australia, Jill Cate, The Tabby Witch, Olle from Sweden, James Carson III, Miriam of Temeria, and Softie.
Special thanks to Elsa and James for joining us for this episode and our international hanza for their support.
Transcriptionist: Charlie Lim
Editor: John Matthew Sarong, Krizia Marrie Casil