The Witcher season 3 is officially in production

Netflix has announced, with photographic evidence, that The Witcher season 3 is now in productionot only that, it's also given us an official summary of the season's plot.

Here's what's in store:

"As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri's magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl's untapped powers; instead, they discover they've landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line—or risk losing each other forever."

Sounds like a good time! Unrelatedly, I really want one of those chairs.

I think this is the first time Netflix has shared an up-front plot summary: Readers of the books would know where things were headed, but a multi-volume series of Polish fantasy novels isn't exactly an efficient synopsis for casual followers. This outline isn't the most detailed breakdown of what's to come, but it is a clear acknowledgement of the mainstream popularity of the show—and, no doubt, a way to keep fans invested in the long, lonely breaks between seasons.

We already had an idea of what's coming in season 3 courtesy of showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who told TechRadar in December 2021 that it will be based on The Time of Contempt. That's author Andrzej Sapkowski's second Witcher novel, following Blood of Elves and a pair of short story collections, which made up the content of the first two seasons. You can get a more detailed breakdown of that novel via Wikipedia if you don't care about spoilers; for those who'd rather preserve the surprise, suffice it to say that producer Steve Gaub likely wasn't kidding when he said in January that "we definitely won’t be going smaller in season 3."

Sadly, there's still no sign of when The Witcher season 3 will arrive, but given the timelines involved with the previous two seasons, I wouldn't expect to see it turn up until sometime in 2023.