Netflix’s The Witcher: Every Missing Character (& When They’ll Appear)

Netflix’s The Witcher season 1 introduced many key characters from the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, but there are still some major players missing who could join the cast in season 2. Adapted for TV by Lauren S. Hissrich and set in a fantasy world called the Continent, The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, a monster-hunter for hire who has genetically-enhanced abilities thanks to brutal training and experimentation from early childhood.

The first season of The Witcher spanned decades of time that gradually converged to a single point in the season finale. The focus was split between Geralt’s adventures, an origin story for powerful sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), and the story of young Princess Ciri’s (Freya Allan) desperate escape from the armies of Nilfgaard.

Netflix has already renewed The Witcher for a second season, and given how many characters from the books appeared throughout season 1 we can definitely expect some more familiar names to crop up in season 2. Here’s a rundown of the major characters from The Witcher books that have yet to appear in the show – and how they could be introduced.

Vesemir

Technically Vesemir was in The Witcher season 1, if you count his voice. This battle-scarred warrior is the oldest surviving witcher and lives in the former training grounds of Kaer Morhen, in the far north-east of the Continent. During Geralt’s nekker bite-induced delirium in the Witcher season 1 finale, he heard the voice of a young Vesemir (played by Theo James), and was seemingly trying to get back to Kaer Morhen in hopes of a cure until his mother returned and healed him. Vesemir was Geralt’s mentor and is an important figure in his life, so it seems very likely that he’ll be introduced in The Witcher season 2 – especially if Geralt decides to take Ciri to Kaer Morhen to protect her from Nilfgaard’s forces.

Demavend III

Demavend III is the king of Aedirn, the country that’s home to Yennefer’s place of origin, Vengerberg. We briefly met Demavend’s father in The Witcher season 1; after Yennefer undergoes her painful transformation to fully ascend into her powers and leave her twisted back and jaw behind, she returns to the ball and secures her place in Aedirn’s court by seducing its handsome young king. That king is Virfuril, and by the end of The Witcher season 1 he will have long since been succeeded by Demavend. Like the other rulers of the Four Kingdoms, Demavend rallies his forces against the invading Nilfgaardian Empire – but he also has a long-standing grudge with another northern king.

Henselt

Henselt is the king of Kaedwen, which lies north of Aedirn and shares a disputed border with it. Though we haven’t met Henselt yet, we got a glimpse of his cruelty towards non-humans when Geralt met the elves hiding out from extermination in the Blue Mountains. Like Demavend, Henselt may or not play a role in The Witcher season 2, depending on how involved the show gets in the politics of the Four Kingdoms and their rulers.

Philippa Eilhart

Many sorcerers and sorceresses were introduced in The Witcher season 1, but one important witch we haven’t met yet is Philippa Eilhart. Philippa is the royal court mage for Redania, one of the Four Kingdoms of the Northern Realms. Like many characters in The Witcher she is neither wholly good or evil – just extremely wily, powerful and ruthless, with interests that sometimes align with Geralt’s and sometimes don’t. She also has the rare ability to polymorph, transforming herself into an owl. We have yet to meet the Redanian king, Vizimir II, but he and Philippa are likely to play a role in The Witcher season 2, as the Four Kingdoms work together to repel the threat of the invading Nilfgaardian Empire.

Sigismund Dijkstra

Assuming Dijkstra is cast according to his description in the books and appearance in the games, you’ll know him when you see him. Though he’s the head of Redanian Intelligence and a master spy, he’s not the kind of man who blends easily into a crowd: almost seven feet tall and large about the waist, with a habit of dressing in bright colors. Dijkstra has a close relationship with Philippa Eilhart, and we can likely expect them to be introduced at around the same time in The Witcher season 2, or whenever the show starts to delve into the politics of Redania.

Zoltan Chivay

We were introduced to a number of dwarfs in The Witcher season 1 – including the most prominent dwarf character in the books, Yarpen Zigrin, who joins Geralt on a dragon hunt in episode 6, “Rare Species.” Zoltan Chivay plays a smaller role in the books but a major role in the games, where he is a close ally of Geralt’s. A fierce fighter and a fiercer friend, Zoltan is immensely likeable and could be a great addition to The Witcher season 2. Moreover, introducing Zoltan and having him bond with Geralt could be a great way of exploring the oppression of non-humans in the Continent.

Milva

A member of Geralt’s hanza (company) in the books, Milva is a talented archer who hails from Upper Sodden – where the battle at the end of The Witcher season 1 takes place. One of the only humans who is accepted by both the dryads of Brokilon Forest (whom Ciri met in season 1) and the Scoia’tael (more on them later), Milva ends up falling in with Geralt after a pivotal event causes him to be separated from Ciri, and he gathers a party of allies – Milva included – to help find her. Milva may well be introduced in The Witcher season 2, depending on how far along the timeline that season reaches.

Regis

Geralt might be a monster-hunter, but The Witcher season 1 demonstrated that he makes an exception for creatures who possess human-level intelligence. One of those “monsters” is Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy, a higher vampire who thankfully prefers to go simply by Regis. Like Milva, Regis is a member of Geralt’s company and is also an old friend of the witcher. Though he was considerably wilder in his youth, Regis eventually chooses to be abstinent from blood-drinking. In Witcher lore, higher vampires are born rather than created through a bite, and don’t actually need blood to survive. If The Witcher season 2 introduces Milva, it will likely introduce Regis as well.

Angoulême

The final member of Geralt’s company, Angoulême, is the daughter of a noblewoman but was cast out of the family due to her illegitimate parentage. After a difficult childhood, Angoulême takes up with a gang of bandits until one day she finds herself in trouble and doomed to the gallows. Geralt makes a deal to save her life and out of gratitude she joins up with him in his search for Ciri. In the books, Angoulême doesn’t join the company until considerably later than Regis and Milva, so we may have to wait for season 3 or longer to meet her.

Leo Bonhart

A very scary, very bad man. Leo Bonhart is a bounty hunter who takes pride in having killed three witchers, and in the books is hired to hunt down Ciri. He is ruthless, cruel, and deadly with a sword – a sadist who isn’t above mutilating the bodies of people he’s killed. If The Witcher season 2 is in need of a villain, then Leo could serve very well in the role. However, given that he doesn’t appear until Sapkowski’s fifth book, Baptism of Fire, it may be some time yet before we meet Leo.

Iorveth

This one is a long shot, but we can dream. Iorveth is only mentioned in the Witcher books, but he plays a major role in CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher2 and is a very popular character among fans of the games. Iorveth is the leader of the Scoia’tael, a band of mostly elven guerrilla fighters who have been radicalized by the hatred and mistreatment of non-human creatures in the Continent. The second episode of The Witcher season 1, “Four Marks,” saw Geralt and Jaskier captured by a group of elves hiding out in the Blue Mountains, which offered audiences some insight into just how much elves have suffered at the hands of humans. There’s a good chance that the Scoia’tael will be introduced in The Witcher season 2, and while Hissrich has emphasized that the show is based solely on the books, it would be a real treat for game fans if Iorveth made an appearance.

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Hannah Shaw-Williams
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