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Season 3 of The Witcher, Netflix's high fantasy series based on the bestselling books and video game, is finally here. Or at least, some of it is.
The third season of the show—which marks Henry Cavill's final performance as the titular monster hunter Geralt of Rivia before Liam Hemsworth takes over the role for Season 4—has been divided into two "volumes," the first of which is now streaming.
While the original plan was for Netflix to release Season 3 in its entirety, as is the norm for the bingewatch-enabling platform, the show's creative team spied an opportunity to build more suspense in the lead-up to the season's climactic episodes, culminating in Cavill's departure in the finale.
"Fortunately, Stranger Things came out whilst we were in production, and they did a season split," explained executive producer Steve Gaub at a recent press junket. "That was very compelling to us, because you don't get to revel in a midseason cliffhanger on a streaming series that's all put out at once, and you kind of want the fans to have that experience."
"So, for us, it was more about deciding which episode to break on," he added. "Netflix was totally on board with it, and I think it'll be fun for our fans because it gets to spread out the experience a little bit more and give us a full Witcher summer."
When will Season 3, Volume 2 be released?
Volume 1, which dropped on Netflix on June 29, comprised five episodes. However, the second volume of Season 3 will consist of just three episodes, giving fans their last adventure with Cavill's Geralt, before Ciri (Freya Allan), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Jaskier (Joey Batey) are joined by a brand new Witcher.
The final episodes of Season 3 will begin streaming on Netflix on July 27.
