Jaskier to Finally Get His Happily Ever After (More Than Once) in the Witcher S3
Season 3 of The Witcher series is just around the corner; after all, six months do not seem like a long time now.
It is interesting to see what the showrunners have in store for the series' fans and how far they will diverge from the source material – i.e. the books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It is true that it is Geralt of Rivia who has always been in the spotlight but what about other characters, who are as important?
Jaskier played by Joey Batey is one such character. And judging by what the actor has to say about the upcoming season, the bard seems to be quite busy in S3.
"There's a lot more to do on Season 3. There's perhaps a little bit of romance? With more than one person maybe?" Joey Batey teased in an interview with Decider.
"By the time we get to Season 3 we're really delving into — for me — some of the best bits of the books," added the actor saying that the fans of the books certainly know what's coming. "I hope they know that it's been realized in such an incredibly epic and mad, magical way," he said.
Does it mean that the showrunners will stick to the books and deliver?
While it is known that the writers' team had planned to bring in Countess de Stael in Season 2, it never happened due to the lockdown. Could there be a romance between her and Jaskier (Dandelion in Sapkowski's books)? After all, she was originally his muse when he was a teenager.
We also know about Jaskier's love affair with Duchess Anna Henrietta of Toussaint, which lasted for two months. Then the bard fled fearing that the duke would learn of their relationship only to be reunited with her after his death. However, bards are fickle and it was the Baroness Nique, who became the next woman to inspire him. Finally, there is Priscilla, a character who appears exclusively in The Witcher games. It looks like Jaskier will have a lot of options.
While the release of the next season will happen no earlier than summer 2023, the show's fans will be surprised to see Jaskier in The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel, which will debut on December 25. Interestingly, the prequel will follow the world before the Conjunction of the Spheres when the ancient elven civilization flourished, and the birth of the first witcher some 1,200 years before Geralt was born. This is how Batey explained Jaskier's brief appearance in Blood Origin.
"The power of music and stories is at the heart of The Witcher: Blood Origin so it makes sense for Jaskier to be some kind of connective tissue between Blood Origin and the main show."
The actor also recalled how thrilled he was to make a break during the Season 3 filming to star in the spinoff alongside "the inimitable Minnie Driver and work with the incredible stunt team over a gruelling three-day shoot."