The Witcher season 3 premiere title (and new location) has been revealed

The Witcher
(Image credit: Netflix)

The title of The Witcher season 3 premiere has been revealed – and it teases a key location from Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.

‘Shaerrawedd’, written by Mike Ostroski and directed by Stephen Surjick, will feature the elven palace of the same name from the Blood of Elves novel (via Entertainment Weekly). It’s all set to be one of the show’s biggest and prominent locations.

"This set is one of the biggest we ever built," showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said. "It was an interior-exterior set. Every shot is visual effects. Obviously there's a fight happening, but more than that, it is this big, open space."

The location will also form the starting point for Geralt "relinquishing his neutrality" as the season progresses.

"[Shaerrawedd] is when we get Geralt's main thoughts on neutrality and why he wants to be neutral," Hissrich explained. "It's a theme you will continue seeing throughout the season."

Even if Geralt moves away from being The Continent’s walking, talking version of Switzerland, his actor will change very soon. Henry Cavill is set to depart the lead role after the third season, with Liam Hemsworth taking over in his place.

A new report from Variety has confirmed that Hemsworth is locked into the role – despite Cavill also being on the outs with DC after a new Superman movie was reported to be in the works.

The Witcher season 3 is set to stream on Netflix in summer 2023. The Witcher: Blood Origin, set 1,200 years before the events of the show, will debut on the streamer on Christmas Day.

For more on what to watch next, here’s our collection of best Netflix shows you should be watching right now.

Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

Read more
Liam Hemsworth as Geralt in The Witcher season 4
The Witcher season 4: release date speculation, cast, news and more
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep
When does The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep take place on The Witcher timeline?
The Witcher Sirens of the Deep
New trailer drops for The Witcher anime movie revealing returning stars from the live action Netflix series
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep
The upcoming The Witcher anime movie features a new version of a scene cut from Henry Cavill's first season
Liam Hemsworth as Geralt in The Witcher season 4
Ahead of Liam Hemsworth's Witcher debut, game actor Doug Cockle explains the most important quality for playing Geralt – and it's something Henry Cavill already achieved
The Witcher 3 Geralt
The Witcher series' new book offers a blast to Geralt's teenage past dubbed Crossroads of Ravens, and it'll be out in English this fall
Latest in Fantasy Shows
Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg and Peter Claffey as Dunk in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
HBO boss says new Game of Thrones spin-off's battles "match" the mainline series at a "fraction of the price"
Abubakar Salim in House of the Dragon
House of the Dragon season 3's opening battle is "beastly", according to one of the show's stars
Jamie Campbell Bower in Stranger Things
The Rings of Power newcomer Jamie Campbell Bower has 'revealed' his season 3 character – but it could be a Sauron-style misdirect
Jamie Campbell Bower in Stranger Things 4
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 3 adds Stranger Things star and Eddie Marsan to cast
Jeff Goldblum in Kaos
Jeff Goldblum's fantasy series Kaos was Netflix's most-watched cancelled show of late 2024
The Wheel of Time season 3
The Wheel of Time showrunner teases future of the Amazon fantasy series beyond season 3: "My job is to do everything I can to get it to the end"
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2