Netflix to shoot second season of The Witcher in Czech Republic, Slovakia

Prague, June 12 (CTK) – The second season of The Witcher popular series produced by Netflix and based on Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’a fantasy books will be shot in Czechia, Slovakia as well as on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Hospodarske noviny (HN) daily writes today, referring to a U.S. database.

The relaxation of the anti-coronavirus lockdown measures enables the Netflix company to start shooting the series on August 3, the Production Weekly database says.

The new season is be released next year.

The shooting actually started in February, but had to be interrupted a month later after Norwegian actor Kristofer Hivju, who also appeared in The Game of Thrones, tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The shooting was to continue in two weeks but was halted for long due to the subsequent wave of restrictions against the pandemic.

The first season of The Witcher was mainly shot in Hungary, but some locations were found in Austria and Slovakia and the final battle scene took place at the Ogrodzieniec Polish castle.

The second season will be shot in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Britain, the producers said previously, but did not elaborate to date.

Netflix released The Witcher on its streaming platform last December and the series became a hit, being seen by more than 76 million people worldwide during the first month as the most watched series on the streaming platform.

Moreover, The Witcher has won fame globally thanks to computer games developed by the CD Project Polish studio. The most successful of the games, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, sold some 28 million copies, HN writes.

The author of the books adapted for the series, Sapkowski, along with animated film-maker Tomasz Baginski, who participated in the Witcher computer game and is the executive producer of series, were to visit the Book World international book fair and festival in Prague in May, but the event was first postponed until the autumn and then cancelled due to the risk of the coronavirus infection.