Netflix has spent the last four months filming the fourth and semi-final season of its monster-slaying fantasy series. The Sorcerer. With Liam Hemsworth stepping in as the new Geralt of Rivia and joining his co-stars Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Freya Allan (Ciri), filming is moving ahead according to the busy schedule. It’s been a while since our last review of filming news, mainly because filming for the past two months has largely taken place on set at Longcross Studios and away from local fans and their cameras.
We’ll pick up where we left off in our last two recap articles, so you can check them out if you haven’t read them yet:
Filming for Block 2 (Episodes 3 and 4) has now been completed
We start our recap with the latest news: Netflix has finished filming block 2 of season 4. This means that the third and fourth episodes of the season have been shot, along with the previously completed first and second episodes. In total, 4 of the season’s 8 episodes have been filmed. So exactly half of season 4 has already been filmed and the second half is now underway.
This is a major milestone for the production, which is moving rapidly toward its expected October wrap date, allowing the post-production team of editors, sound and visual effects plenty of time to prepare for the release of Season 4, expected in summer 2025.
The episodes of Block 2 were directed by Tricia Brockwho is known for her work on The Walking Dead, Person of interestAnd 30 rocks among many other projects. Her latest work, which has now been released, is Bridgerton Season 3, where she directed the first two episodes. The writers behind this block of scripts are Rae Benjamin (Episode 3) and Troy Dangerfield (Episode 4), returning from Season 3, for which they wrote the fourth and eighth episodes respectively.
Although we don’t know much about the story covered in these episodes, the few details we have uncovered may give readers of the book some idea.
The scenes in the refugee camp were shot with Laurence Fishburne’s Regis, and all scenes with Geralt’s Hansa
One of the biggest sequences of the second block takes place in a Refugee camp Geralt and his group of outsiders, later called the Hanseatic Leagueencounter on their travels. These scenes were filmed in the beautiful English ruins of Waverley Abbey over several weeks. A large campsite with dozens of tents was set up between the various ruins. During filming, many extras were present alongside the actors to work on the scenes that were adapted directly from the book. Baptism of fire.
As you may recall, Season 3 ended with Geralt (Henry Cavill), Jaskier (Joey Batey), and newcomer Milva (Meng’er Zhang) heading to Nilfgaard, where they believe Ciri (Freya Allan) is being held captive by Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards). This trio will grow in Season 4 as they meet new characters. Perhaps the most exciting new addition to Geralt’s Hansa is the Bader Surgeon Regisa favorite among book readers and players of CD Projekt RED video games.
Regis is portrayed in the series by none other than Laurence Fishburnewhose acting career took him to The Matrix, Hannibaland many other iconic projects. By chance, we managed to get an exclusive picture of Fishburne in costume as Regis on set at Waverley Abbey, which you can see above.
Below you will find a gallery of more photos taken during filming at this location.
In addition to Fishburne’s Regis, we also have reason to believe that Daniel Woodburn And Linden Pork were on set as Zoltan And PercivalThe two are members of a group of dwarves led by Zoltan and a gnome (Percival) who are traveling through the war-torn land. They will come across Geralt’s Hanse and from then on they will travel together for a while.
The scenes shot in the refugee camp involve a mad priest who claims a local woman is a witch and wants to burn her at the stake. Geralt’s party intervenes and Regis has an iconic moment with a horseshoe. Then the camp is invaded by Nilfgaardians.
Nilfgaardian Armor, Part 3
Perhaps the first major controversy of the show, the Nilfgaardian Armor debuted in Season 1 with a rather odd, wrinkled design. Many fans were unhappy with the look of the first version of the armor, so it was redesigned for Season 2 with a cleaner, metallic look.
This armor carried over into Season 3 without any changes and it seemed like both fans and developers were happy to leave it as it was. However, we now know that this armor has undergone another change for Season 4.
During filming at the Waverley Abbey refugee camp, a group of Nilfgaardian soldiers appeared. This follows the events in the book Baptism of firewhere the camp is raided by Nilfgaardian soldiers. These soldiers wore significantly different armor than the previous two versions worn by the Nilfgaardians in the series, and it almost seems like a cross between the two designs.
It’s possible that these soldiers are part of a special unit with their own armor, although we would guess that’s what regular Nilfgaardian soldiers will look like in Season 4.
You can see a gallery with more pictures in the article linked below.
RELATED ARTICLE: A new Nilfgaardian armor will be introduced in season 4 of The Witcher
Ciri and the rats get into trouble
Season 3 prepares the next phase of the story for Freya Allan‘s Witcher Princess Ciri by introducing them the ratsa group of teenagers who are all victims of Nilfgaard’s expansion wars. The rats are outlaws who often steal from the rich and get themselves into all kinds of trouble. Ciri quickly joins the group, with her new name Falka.
Most of the filming for this story took place behind the walls of Longcross Studios, so we don’t know much. We do know, however, that a particularly bloody fight scene involving the rats was filmed.
Since the filming took place in the studio, the filming probably took place in a village, perhaps a village called Jealousy. We are not yet sure if that was THE fight scene, in which Sharlto CopleyBounty Hunter Leo Bonhartalthough it is certainly possible.
Further filming on location throughout England
Although most of the filming for Block 2 took place on the sets of Longcross Studios and the refugee camp at Waverley Abbey, the cast and crew visited at least three other locations for short filming sessions. The first and most interesting is the Muslim cemetery, palace and garden in Woking, England. The crew was there for a few days and probably filmed in the garden.
Fans have speculated that these could be the gardens in the Nilfgaardian capital seen towards the end of season 4. We know that Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards) is there, along with Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) and Teryn the fake Ciri (Frances Pooley).
Season 4 also introduces a new key character to the Nilfgaardian team: Stefan Skellen (James Purefoy), an ambitious spy who sets out to find the real Ciri. Of course, it could also be somewhere other than Nilfgaard, such as the royal gardens of Redania, which we already saw in scenes with Philippa (Cassie Clare) and Dijkstra (Graham McTavish) in season 3.
The second place, which The SorcererThe cast and crew were Frensham Pond and the nearby forests. Here, Liam HemsworthGeralt was spotted on site together with the horse Pinocchio (this season the Roach).
Since Hemsworth was on set, other members of the Hanse were likely there as well. Since they will be traveling around the area for most of the season, the scene will likely involve the group bantering during the trip. In the tweet below, you can see images taken during filming.
The last place we know of is the Thursley Common. This was the second time a season 4 scene was filmed at this location. Previously, it was a scene related to Geralt’s storyline, although the scenes may be unrelated. In the tweet below, you can see images taken during filming.
The Sorcerer Season 4 is in production and is scheduled to be released in 2025. Andrzej Sapkowski’s new Witcher book is scheduled to be released in winter 2024/2025. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep The anime is also scheduled to be released in late 2024.
Where to find us:
Twitter/X
Instagram
Topics
discord
