The Witcher’s showrunner has responded to questions regarding the timeline and vows that season two will be “more linear”.
If you’ve only just started watching Netflix’s The Witcher, you might be getting confused right around episode four or so. That’s because you’ll suddenly find characters that were killed in the first episode miraculously alive again. That’s not due to some dark necromantic magic–unless you count fancy editing.
A common complaint about the show has been how each episode seems to bounce between the past and present, showing scenes from Geralt’s past while showing other scenes from Ciri’s present before swapping timelines in the next episode. It can make the story a bit hard to follow, and executive producer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich had to field a lot of questions regarding that decision in a recent Reddit AMA.
However, Hissrich said that season two will be a lot easier to keep up with. Since the characters’ stories have all converged, there shouldn’t be any need to bounce around timelines.
“The narrative structure was put in place so that we could tell Geralt’s short stories (the foundation of the whole Witcher world, in my opinion), while Ciri and Yennefer could also be a part of the action,” Hissrich wrote on the r/wiedzmin subreddit. “Their stories don’t happen simultaneously, so we knew we needed to play with time a bit. This will definitely change in season two, as they’re stories have begun to converge.”
Hissrich confirmed in a later comment that season two’s timeline would be “more linear.” She also mentioned that the tone of the story would shift “as needed”, depending on where they want to take the story. Certain aspects will remain dark and foreboding, as is appropriate in The Witcher’s dark fantasy setting, but other parts might be more lighthearted.
While the confusing timelines was a common complaint, people generally expressed positive sentiment to The Witcher and couldn’t wait for season two to arrive. Many people asked just when season two might appear, but Hissrich responded that she doesn’t have a firm date other than some time in 2021.
Source: Reddit
