The Witcher Season 3 Just Hit A Major Production Snag
"The Witcher" has been a monumental success story for premium streaming giant Netflix. Season 2's premiere week saw viewers tuning in for 2.2 billion minutes (per Variety), which is obviously an astronomically large number. Before Season 2 even premiered, Netflix quickly renewed the series for a Season 3, which officially began filming in April of 2022, according to Deadline. Fans have likely been hoping that there would be less time between Season 2 and 3 than there was between Season 1 and 2, which saw viewers waiting nearly two years because of the pandemic and other factors.
Given that Season 3 started filming so soon after Season 2's release, "The Witcher" fans would have good reason to believe this is the case, even if Season 3 does not have a release date at the time of this writing. However, in an unfortunate update, the production of the fantasy show's latest season just encountered a rather major setback.
Season 3 of The Witcher has halted due to COVID
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Season 3 of "The Witcher" has been temporarily put on hold because of a COVID-19 outbreak on set. It's not clear who, exactly, has contracted the virus or how long production will be paused. There have been rumors floating around that star Henry Cavill has tested positive, but these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt. Ironically, this exact scenario played out while "The Witcher" was filming in the U.K., which is exactly where Season 2 was filming when it was forced to shut down due to COVID-19.
Again, it's unclear how long production will be shut down or how exactly this will affect the release of Season 3. It's easy to compare such a snag to what happened during Season 2's filming, but productions and studios now have much more consistent screening processes than they did during that time period. Plus, Cavill was also dealing with a leg injury that held up filming during that time (per Men's Health). Still, production can be a precarious endeavor, and anything is possible. All fans can do right now is be patient and hope for things to get back on track as soon as it is safe for everyone involved to do so.