Netflix may have canceled a much higher number of original shows than usual due to a combination of poor viewing figures and the increased production costs brought on by the COVID-19 health and safety protocols now required by any major shoot, but the streaming service still enjoyed its best year ever in terms of overall audience engagement.
Bridgerton usurped The Witcher to become the platform’s most-watched series ever, while the likes of Tiger King, Money Heist, The Queen’s Gambit, Lupin, The Umbrella Academy and more drew in tens of millions of subscribers. However, Geralt of Rivia will be looking to reclaim first position whenever his second season debuts, and that’s going to be just the tip of the iceberg according to our intel.
We’ve heard from our sources this week – the same ones who told us the show was getting a prequel long before Blood Origin was announced – that Netflix are keen to keep The Witcher train rolling for as long as possible based on the massive viewing numbers it generated after becoming a pop culture phenomenon. This involves many future seasons of the series itself, in addition to numerous spinoffs.
The video games have sold over 50 million copies, the books by author Andrzej Sapkowski also experienced a huge surge in sales when the episodic adaptation debuted, and the first season drew in 78 million households in the first four weeks it was available. Based on those numbers alone, then, there’s clearly a huge and continued appetite for The Witcher, and as one of Netflix’s marquee television properties, it feels like a foregone conclusion that the sprawling fantasy mythology is set to be a fixture of the streamer’s lineup for a long time to come yet, with multiple new seasons and at least a handful of spinoffs virtually guaranteed at this stage.
