Uncle Bard is in the house!
Joey Batey is ready to become the weird uncle of The Witcher found family in Season 3 of the Netflix show. During a set visit put together for select members of the international press, including Collider, Batey and Freya Allan offered some exciting updates on their respective characters of Jaskier and Ciri, telling us how they fit in the upcoming Season 3.
The first two seasons of Netflix’s The Witcher have kept the main cast split apart for most of its runtime. However, by the end of Season 2, all the loose threads were neatly tied together, with Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) joining forces to train Ciri in magic and combat. But what about Jaskier? How will the bard fit into the show’s found family? As Batey told us:
“Oh, I think the fun uncle is usually the role that I’ve been finding myself slipping into a little bit. Yeah. Jaskier has got a lot more to do in this season in terms of the political machinations of the Continent. In terms of this found family and fighting for them and finding his own purpose within that. But on a personal note, it’s been really rewarding because I’ve had scenes with the big men [Henry Cavill] and I’ve had scenes with Anya, and this is the first time where we’ve got to hang out. And, thankfully, Freya’s lovely and incredibly talented.”
Allan is also glad she got to work closer with Batey for Season 3, as Jaskier brings a welcomed levity into Ciri’s life. As the actress explains, “I love Jaskier and Ciri’s relationship this season. […] She’s got this intensity constantly. And Geralt and Yennefer are playing, essentially, the roles of her parents. It’s actually really nice to have a character like Jaskier come in and bring a bit of light to her life.”
The Witcher Season 3 Brought Joey Batey and Freya Allan Closer Together
While it’s exciting to learn that Jaskier and Ciri will cross paths more often in Season 3 of The Witcher, Batey and Allan also underlined how the experience on set helped them to form their own real-life found family. As Batey puts it, with the Season 3 tying up together the many different storylines of the show, all the stars had the opportunity to get to know themselves better. As Batey explains:
“It’s been really, really lovely, actually, not only having this out of this found family within the show, but also for myself as Joey kind of going, ‘Oh yeah, this is the first time we’re all actually hanging out, and we’ve shot scenes all together.’ And it felt like this was the first time we’ve all kind of got to do that. And that’s, I believe, bleeding into the show and the scripts that Lauren’s written.”
On that note, Allan was quick to praise Batey’s performance, revealing how they connected being their characters thanks to Season 3. Allan even told us:
“There’s actually one scene we did, the last scene we did together. That probably will be one of my favorite scenes just because there was something about it that really… Jaskier says something, and the way you [Batey] delivered it was so beautiful that just was exactly the kind of thing that Ciri needed to hear. […] I feel like it connected beyond just our characters. It connected us as well, which was… I love it when that happens.”
Season 3 of The Witcher will be split into two parts. Volume 1 debuts on Netflix on June 29, with Volume 2 coming to the streamer on July 27.
