Starting January 8, host Brandon Jenkins takes you on a journey to The Continent with the cast and crew of The Witcher. Over three episodes, find out how Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Cirilla the Lion Cub of Cintra were all brought to life. Make sure to watch the series in its entirety, and then come back to hear how the writers, production designers, armourer, and so many more adapted the Witcher saga.
Starting January 8, host Brandon Jenkins takes you on a journey to The Continent with the cast and crew of The Witcher. Over three episodes, find out how Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Cirilla the Lion Cub of Cintra were all brought to life. Make sure to watch the series in its entirety, and then come back to hear how the writers, production designers, armourer, and so many more adapted the Witcher saga.
Geralt (clip): Evil is evil, Stregobor. Lesser. Greater. Middling. It's all the same.
You know Geralt of Rivia. The witcher. The mutant. The legend. But what you may not know is that this line he’s delivering.
Geralt (clip): Evil is evil, Stregobor. Lesser. Greater. Middling. It's all the same.
It’s pulled straight from The Last Wish, the book of short stories that introduced our world to Geralt’s. And that world, it was created by the Polish author Andrjez Sapkowski.
Lauren Hissrich: I personally believe that, that Geralt is him.
Tomasz Baginski: He’s a great guy, he’s a genius, literally he knows like 25 languages or something like that.
Sapkowski, this genius, his best selling books of short stories and novels about The Witcher have been translated into almost 20 languages, not quite 25, but close to it. And now, it’s a hit Netflix Original series.
Geralt (clip): If I have to choose between one evil and another, then I prefer not to choose at all.
This is Netflix’s Behind The Scenes. And in our second season, we’re getting into The Witcher. I’m your host, Brandon Jenkins. I’m a journalist and podcast host, and I’ve got a deep love of fantasy. The more medieval weaponry, magic wielding, and monster hunting, the better.
There are almost three thousand pages of epic fantasy adventures in the original Witcher books. That’s like three bibles worth of material. That’s almost all of Harry Potter! So how did the writers, the cast, and the crew of The Witcher adapt all of that into a tv series? How did they bring The Continent and all its characters to life? First move… get the author’s blessing...
Baginski: I just wrote him a letter, very, very long letter. And he answered one word: Hmm, it’s interesting.
Brandon: That was the response?
Baginski: Yeah, the first response was “it's interesting”
In our three episode journey, we’ll spend time with Geralt of Rivia and learn just how deep Henry Cavill went in his portrayal of the iconic character.
Hissrich: Henry actually does all of his own stunt work. He does not have a double. Every time that Geralt is on screen, Henry is on screen, even if it's just his hand. No one else acts as Geralt.
Ailbhe Lemass: We had a lovely optician who was with him nearly the whole time, because even when he had the yellow eyes in, even if he was off camera, he wanted the yellow eyes in.
We’ll get to know Yennefer, just as the actor who played her did.
Anya Chalotra: I wanted to know what was underneath this cold exterior
She’ll even tell us what it’s like for a sorceress to use her magic before they add the movie magic.
Chalotra: Sometimes I felt so powerful and it looked ridiculous
And then we’ll join Ciri on her tireless quest to find Geralt
Freya Allan: I would come in in the morning and all it was was ‘let’s put purple under your eyes, and make you look like you haven’t slept in weeks! Let’s just make you look awful, cover your hair in mud.’
Csillia Blake-Horváth: It was makeup, because obviously you can’t put real mud on
Through it all, we’ll find out what it takes to build a fantastical world and make it feel real, from a sword’s smallest details, to the Great Hall of Cintra.
Andrew Laws: ALL i remember from the wedding scene is alex screaming “we need to make it more, more!”
Alex Garcia Lopez: “More more more!”
Behind The Scenes of The Witcher premieres in early January. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe now for more magic, more monsters, and more easter eggs.