Netflix erased The Witcher from its 2026 promos: season 5 release date delayed to 2027, and season 4's reviews may be why
The final season of Netflix's fantasy epic was shot more than a year ago, so whatever is holding it up, it isn't the cameras.
Netflix never announced that The Witcher was delayed. It just quietly stopped mentioning it. In August 2026, What's on Netflix noticed that the fifth and final season had disappeared from the streamer's 2026 promotional materials and its media center, months after being featured in January's "Next on Netflix" campaign as one of the year's big releases. The site then confirmed the season had moved to 2027. Netflix still hasn't commented, and it hasn't picked a 2027 date, either.
The season is already finished
This is the part that makes the delay stand out. Netflix ordered season 5 in April 2024, and it was shot back-to-back with season 4, wrapping in September 2025, about a month before season 4 even premiered. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has described the two seasons as one big story split in half for distribution. The original pitch, in other words, was a short wait between them. Instead, the gap between season 4's October 30, 2025, premiere and season 5 is now guaranteed to stretch past a year.
The numbers Netflix is looking at
Season 4 was Liam Hemsworth's debut as Geralt, after Henry Cavill left at the end of season 3. Here's how that went, per Netflix's own Top 10 data compiled by What's on Netflix, along with Samba TV and Rotten Tomatoes:
- Opening views: 7.4 million in season 4's first four days, down from 15.2 million for season 3 and 18.5 million for season 2.
- Hours watched: 53.2 million, compared with 73 million for season 3.
- US households: 577,000 watched season 4's first episode during its launch window, versus 885,000 for season 3, according to Samba TV.
- Reviews: the lowest of the series, with a critics' score in the 50s and an audience score around 19%.
Season 4 lost more than half of season 3's opening audience, and season 5 is the same story, made by the same team, at the same time.
Hissrich's response to the backlash at the time was essentially a shrug. The show is an adaptation, she said, and "everyone can have their version of The Witcher."
So why 2027?
What's on Netflix floated three explanations: extra post-production time for a VFX-heavy finale, a late 2026 slate that's already crowded with returning shows like 3 Body Problem and Black Doves, and a desire to anchor Netflix's 2027 lineup with an established title. All three are plausible, and none of them is mutually exclusive with the obvious one. A final season of a show that just lost half its audience needs a reason for people to come back.
2027 happens to have one. On May 27, 2026, CD Projekt announced Songs of the Past, a new story expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, its first since Blood and Wine in 2016, launching in 2027 and putting players back in Geralt's boots. Netflix has seen this work before: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners sent players back to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2022. Nobody at Netflix has said the two releases are linked.
Hissrich, for what it's worth, framed the ending as a victory lap before season 4 even came out:
"A lot of TV shows don't get the chance to do five seasons."
— Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, to Dexerto, October 2025
Season 5 adapts The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake, closing out the story of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri. It's Hemsworth's second and last season as Geralt.
Previously we wrote: Game of Thrones' Hound joins the Ahsoka season 2 cast in the late Ray Stevenson's role — and the trailer locks in a January 2027 release date
