Joey Batey Insisted On Inserting A Specific Book Scene Into The Witcher Season 3

This post contains spoilers for Netflix's "The Witcher."

Dandelion the bard, known as Jaskier (Joey Batey) in "The Witcher" series, finally has a more nuanced role in season 3 of the show. Although Jaskier is integral to Geralt and Ciri's journey, he has been treated more or less as a comic relief in the first two seasons so far, where he sings aggrieved songs about Geralt after they fall out and gets involved in various shenanigans. However, by the end of season 2, and in "The Witcher: Blood Origin," he was dubbed the Sandpiper, as he played a pivotal role in smuggling elves safely to Cintra and singing hopeful songs to them in times of hopeless crisis.

The events of "Blood Origin" also place Jaskier in a unique situation, as he becomes the recipient of Seanchaí's (Minnie Driver) prophetic tale about the Golden Empire and the creation of the first Witcher. This can only mean that Jaskier has an even more important role to play when it comes to the future of the Continent, and what the legacy of the Elder Blood might mean for everyone involved. With season 3 situating Jaskier close to the players of the Redanian Empire, he has the chance to get to know Radovid (Hugh Skinner) better and have his own little romance before things inevitably get chaotic.

As someone who is acquainted with Andrzej Sapkowski's source material and "The Witcher" games, Batey requested showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich to include a specific scene involving his character in the books. On Batey's insistence, Hissrich included Vespula (played by Beau Holland), a character who appears in the books and inadvertently helps apprehend Dudu the Doppler sometime around 1260. Let us look into what Batey had to say.

Season 3 has taken a lot of creative liberties with the way it unfurls the core events — the reasons behind the Thanedd ball have changed, Imposter Ciri's origins are more sinister, and Jaskier has a romance with Radovid, the future mad king of Redania. Despite making such drastic changes, the new season is perhaps closest to the source material when compared to its previous installments. One such book-accurate inclusion is the scene between Jaskier and his on-and-off fling Vespula, where she throws his things off the balcony after getting into a fight with him. Batey told GamesRadar+ how this scene came about:

"I insisted on putting a book character in. I said, 'Can we please have Vespula in there please.' We have this scene from the book, and it was just nice to be able to return to that and the scene with Vespula is the scene that I auditioned with five years ago. So it just felt really full circle and I felt very settled in the character."

This scene in question between Jaskier and Vespula might seem trivial when compared to everything that happens in this season, but this moment cements Jaskier's character as a hopeless romantic. In the books and the games, Dandelion is known for having tempestuous, short-lived affairs, which often land him in trouble with the women involved, as they're not too happy with his sudden disappearance. While Jaskier and Vespula's relationship might be flighty and inconsistent in the show, they do share a genuine bond where they can confide in one another freely. This sentiment is reflected in the scene in which Jaskier gushes about Radovid, and Vespula teases him playfully instead of getting jealous over his new crush. This is truly Jaskier's hot girl summer. 

Canonically, Vespula is just one of the many women Jaskier had a fling with while in Novigrad, and after he leaves her for someone else, she throws his belongings out of her window, including his precious lute. In the books, Jaskier is able to catch his lute, but the show takes this opportunity to introduce Radovid, who saves the poor lute from shattering and strikes up a conversation with the already-smitten bard. Circling back to the books, Vespula spends quite some time trying to smack Jaskier in the head with a frying pan — she succeeds, but it turns out to be a Doppler named Dudu, who Geralt was trying to catch for some time. Vespula also makes a brief appearance in the games during the "Broken Flowers" quest, where Geralt has to talk to Jaskier's long string of lovers to track the bard down.

Although her role in the quest is to simply point Geralt in the right direction, this allows the Witcher to gain crucial information about Ciri's whereabouts. Geralt's main objective in "The Witcher: Wild Hunt" is to find Ciri, and getting in touch with Jaskier/Dandelion finally allows him to obtain some meaningful leads. While it is unlikely that Vespula in the show will play a role in helping Geralt in any capacity, it is nice to see her dynamic with Jaskier evolve. Although easygoing and flighty for the most part, Jaskier is also capable of heroism and will do everything in his power to keep Ciri safe. Jaskier's wits and loyalty are an asset to Geralt's cause, and he even popularized a song about tossing a coin to the witcher. Now, that's got to count for something.

Volume I of "The Witcher" season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix.