WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Season 2 of The Witcher. Now available for streaming on Netflix.
Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels are currently discussing some of the major deviations Season 2 of the Netflix series made from the source material. Among those changes are the introduction of a brand new monsters-- Voleth Meir. Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich recently explained the thinking behind the demon and why the monster is important to Season 2.
Appearing on The Witcher Unlocked, Hissrich stated, "So Blood of Elves, I have to say, was terrifying to me in terms of adaptation. I found it so much more difficult, in some ways, than Season 1 and certainly more difficult than what I know is coming down the pike. Because it's a book that's a lot about character relationships and character movements, but not a lot of forward propelling action."
She then went on to explain that the audience expects monsters and excitement across the season before adding, "So we started to talk about how to introduce a season-long villain, not just the monsters that Geralt is fighting in every episode. And furthermore, we talked about how that villain could start to tie together Yennefer's story, Geralt's story, Ciri's story-- without them all being on-screen together yet." Voleth Meir was created to accomplish all of that.
The lack of monsters in Sapkowski's Blood of Elves is a concern that Hissrich raised in the past, teasing that the recently released series would feature more monsters because of it. She previously stated, "There's just not very many. But we know from the games that people really like to see Geralt battling monsters, so we continued adding more monsters to Season 2."
Season 2 teases a larger backstory for Voleth Meir to come, as Vesemir and Geralt of Rivia explain throughout the show that the demon was involved in a battle against the Continent's first witchers. This is heavily suggested to lead into the upcoming prequel series as the finale of the The Witcher Season 2 included the first teaser trailer for The Witcher: Blood Origin. The show is set 1,200 years before the events of the main series and explores the ancient past of the Continent, in the aftermath of the cataclysmic event known as the Conjunction of the Spheres-- which was also touched on in Season 2.
The Witcher: Blood Origin does not yet have a release date. Season 2 of The Witcher was released on Dec. 17 and is available for streaming now on Netflix.
Source: Netflix