In 2019, the world met Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novel series, The Witcher. The show is now one of the streaming platform’s most popular series and has resulted in several seasons of the flagship series and almost as many spin-offs.
Watching The Witcher in chronological order is harder than it looks since the first season of the flagship show jumps back and forth across decades between one scene and the next. To truly accomplish a chronological watch order you’d need to pause and restart any given episode over a dozen times. Since that’s not realistic or feasible, we’ve compiled a watch order that achieves the same desired result without the headache.
The Witcher: Blood Origin
Where to stream: Netflix
The Witcher: Blood Origin was a bold move for series creators Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich and Declan De Barra because they were operating in uncharted territory; the Conjunction of the Spheres, the world-colliding event that introduced humans and monsters (among other species) to The Continent, was only ever discussed in Andrzej Sapkowsk’s novel series, not shown. In The Witcher lore, the Conjunction is essentially Day One, but Blood Origin begins on Day Zero, per se. While we wish we could say Schmidt-Hissrich and De Barra’s risk paid off, in reality, the four-episode spin-off became one of Netflix’s worst-rated audience original series of all time on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
Where to stream: Netflix
Serving as another spinoff to the flagship Netflix series, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf centers around Geralt’s mentor and fellow witcher Vesemir (played by Kim Bodnia in the live-action series). The anime spin-off pulls back the curtain on Vesemir’s origin story as a young child presented with the appeal of power and riches in return for grueling training and magical mutations. Whereas Blood Origin misses the mark and The Witcher sometimes fails to captivate, Nightmare of the Wolf hit every target, earning an impressive 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. As Witcher shows go, this is one you don’t want to sleep on.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (In development)
Where to stream: Netflix
The first season of The Witcher is primarily adapted from the short stories found within The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, the two books that precede Blood of Elves. Not every short story made the cut, however, and that’s where The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep comes into play. The anime movie was softly announced in 2022 and like Nightmare of the Wolf, it will be developed and animated by the Korean Studio Mir. It is expected to be based on A Little Sacrifice, a short story with a darker twist on The Little Mermaid.
Technically, you could watch this after the character Jaskier is introduced in the second episode of The Witcher season one, but the easiest (and less confusing) way is to watch this before season one with the knowledge that Jaskier’s formal introduction is on the way. Exactly when the anime film will release on Netflix has not been announced, but the assumption is that it will drop sometime between 2023 and 2024.
The Witcher (Season 1)
Where to stream: Netflix
The first season of The Witcher caused confusion among viewers due to the fact that it jumped back and forth between Yennefer’s adolescence in the early 1200s to the Battle of Sodden Hill in 1263 without any warning or explanation. The season covers the events laid out in the prequel books of Sapkowski’s Witcher series, The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, both of which set the stage for Blood of Elves, book one of the six-book series.
The Witcher (Season 2)
Where to stream: Netflix
Unlike season one, season two of The Witcher sticks to a more regulated timeline, officially embarking on the events laid out in Sapkowski’s Blood of Elves book. Now that Gerlt and Ciri’s destinies have finally crossed paths, they set out for Kaer Morhen, home of the Witchers where Ciri begins her witcher training. The season begins and ends in the year 1264. Like its predecessor, it received positive ratings, but it was also criticized by fans for deviating from the source material too much, something the fandom believes caused the chain of events leading to Cavill’s departure from the show.
The Witcher (Season 3)
Where to stream: Netflix
The third season of The Witcher is adapted from the second book in Sapkowski’s series, Time of Contempt, which sees Geralt grappling with his stronghold on the concept of neutrality in a world corrupted by war. Like season two, this season is also set in the year 1264, but now Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer have finally been united. They are on the run from those across the Continent who wish to capture Ciri and use her for magical or political gain. Although they wish to stay together, it becomes increasingly challenging to do so after Yennefer realizes Aretuza is the best place for Ciri to receive her training and Geralt realizes the only way to protect Ciri is to play offense instead of defense.