The Witcher Showrunner Lauren Hissrich Teases How Season 3 Will Address The Wild Hunt

"The Witcher" is a sprawling high fantasy full of magic, knights, and horrendous murder beasts. Somewhere between "Game of Thrones" and "The Lord of the Rings," the novels (and, by extension, the videos games, and the Netflix series) feature a vicious armada of craven cryptids who would like nothing more to chow down on a few locals, if given the chance. We're talking Leshy and Djinn and Basilisks (they're nothing like the "Harry Potter" snake, sorry) and Ghouls and Bruxa and all kinds of other critters you've never heard of. As fearsome as these monsters are, however, none of them are half as feared as the Wild Hunt. 

In layman's terms, the Wild Hunt is a group of multidimensional (okay, maybe not so layman, then) elves hellbent upon imprisoning powerful beings from each of the many races to utilize as slaves. They ride ghostly horses and wear ghostly armor and travel through magic portals so the citizens of Skellige can be forgiven for naming them the Wraiths of Mörhogg. The Wild Hunt's quest to capture Ciri (Freya Allan), Geralt's (Henry Cavill, but also Liam Hemsworth, now) ward, is so harrowing that it became the focus of the third video game and, now, the Netflix series is hinting at their arrival. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Lauren Hissrich spoke about the future of "The Witcher" and the Wild Hunt's place within it. While she promised that the Netflix version of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels would ultimately feature the spectral riders, she all but confirmed that they would not appear in any meaningful way during Henry Cavill's final season. As Hissirch said:

"I think a couple of things are gonna happen right now. We set up the Wild Hunt for Ciri in the middle of season 2 as her thinking, 'I don't quite understand what this is. I don't understand why they're in this dreamscape that I'm having.' And then, obviously, at the very end, she visits the dark elves' sphere and she realizes these people are after me. We all know that, eventually, Geralt is going to learn a little bit more about the Wild Hunt, as will Ciri, but right now it stays this ever-looming threat to her. It sort of goes between her fingers. She can't quite catch it and figure it out yet."

So, yes, the Wild Hunt are sure to terrorize the Continent at some point but not quite yet, it seems. Hissirch's statement suggests that "The Witcher" will devote a season or two to building them up for a later, more dramatic conflict. While the Netflix production has come under fire for faithfulness to the source material, this choice, at the very least, is in line with Sapkowski's work.