How do you plan on celebrating the holidays this year? Are you looking forward to spending lots of time with friends and family? Just want to enjoy some egg nog and cookies in front of a warm fire? Or are you planning to shop ’til you drop? That all sounds good, but we have something different planned for this year. It’s something a lot less traditional. Instead of a-wassailing, we are preparing to travel across an evil world with a powerful monster hunter. Sure, that might not be very Christmas-y, but you might feel the same way after watching the final trailer for Netflix’s epic new series The Witcher. It promises massive battles, sweeping landscapes, and a very unlikely hero teaming up with some powerful allies.
“Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.”
This intense last look at the show before it premieres later this month is the series’ most epic promo yet. Based on the best-selling series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, Henry Cavill stars as the titular Witcher, Geralt of Rivia. As this trailer shows though, he’s not the most eager—nor the most desirable—hero in the Continent. It’s a world “riddled with evil,” and Geralt’s path crosses with “a sorceress and a runaway princess.” Even if he’s reluctant to join with anyone.
There’s much more going on here though. The Continent is on the precipice of a major war. And based on the battles shown in this trailer, we mean a massive war. It’s a change from the show’s first official teaser, which focused more on the atmosphere and tone of the series. It also gave us a more intimate look at the major characters.
Every new show that gets released now, especially a fantasy series, gets compared to Game of Thrones. These giant war scenes will only heighten those comparisons. That’s likely both a good and bad thing for The Witcher. HBO’s smash hit proved a fantasy series can have huge crossover appeal. There’s a giant audience out there who are looking for something to fill that Westerosi-sized void. If The Witcher‘s battle scenes are anywhere near as good as Thrones were, that alone could help it reach viewers.
But expecting anything to live up to the standard of the most popular show on television is an absurd hurdle. Hopefully The Witcher gets a chance to find and make its own impact without having to worry about how it compares to any other show. All that matters is that it’s good and compelling on its own. That’s all we’re hoping for.
Because instead of scary ghost stories this Christmas, we’re getting what looks like a kickass monster one instead. That sounds like a pretty good present to us. Especially because we can start it by sitting around the fireplace as this guy reads the first novel to us.
Henry Cavill reads The Witcher. You’re welcome pic.twitter.com/2ibbB5nVjt
— Netflix US (@netflix) December 12, 2019
Season one of The Witcher will begin streaming on Netflix on December 20.
Featured Image: Netflix