With the success of The Witcher, the franchise is looking forward to expanding its universe. Earlier there were reports that another spin-off series would take place that will explore the infamous group of young Nilfgaardian misfits called The Rats. However, there was no concrete evidence if those reports were true, but recent reports state that there is indeed a spin-off series.
The news first broke in November 2022 but there was silence even after the release of Blood Origin, however, when it was announced that Henry Cavill will be stepping down as Geralt of Rivia after the end of season 3, the showrunners became desperate to bring the series out of Cavill’s shadow.
Details about The Witcher Spin-off Series
The Witcher spin-off series featuring The Rats would be under showrunner Haily Hall, and the finalized title of the show would be Riff Raff. The shooting of the spin-off series would take place in South Africa, however, dates are not confirmed yet but it will span from April to September 2023.
The official logline confirms that there are only six of them, which confirms that Riff Raff is a prequel and it would take place before the group met Ciri. The brief logline of the spin-off series: “Six teenage thieves must rely on their criminal skills as they plan the biggest heist of their careers against the most dangerous crime ring in the kingdom.”
Another important aspect of The Witcher prequel is that the series is rising the stakes because it will be a heist story. However, it is difficult to state what kind of heist it would be because, in the original books, there is no heist, so without any source material it would be difficult to confirm.
As of now, only four out of six members of the cast members for The Rats are disclosed, as the crew is set to make their appearance in the third season of The Witcher, starring Henry Cavill. The cast members are Christelle Elwin in the role of Mistle, Fabian McCallum in the role of Kayleigh, Aggy K. Adams in the role of Iskra, and Juliette Alexandra in the role of Reef.
Is the Third Season of The Witcher True to its Source Material?
The Witcher has been heavily criticized in the past when Blood Origin, which narrated the story of the Conjunction of the Spheres and the fall of the Elven kingdom was immensely criticized. The plot of the show was bland and which made it predictable and the characters were weak that showed no development throughout the series. Moreover, the acting of the star-studded cast did not match their standards, except for Francesca Mills’s portrayal of Meldof.
However, for the third season of The Witcher, its showrunner, Lauren S. Hissrich ensured that the upcoming season is a “one-to-one adaptation of the books.” She continued explaining how difficult it would be to adapt everything from the book, but they did adopt every major events and activity that occurred in the book.
“Obviously, we can’t do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books.”
Even though Lauren S. Hissrich assures that everything has been closely adapted, there have been speculations among fans about how the show often deviates from the source material which ruins the main essence of the series.
The Witcher can be streamed on Netflix.
Source: REDANIAN INTELLIGENCE
