You can’t escape destiny, and watching season three of “The Witcher” might be yours. The season continues to build on the thrilling adventure and realistic characters in a way that makes each hour-long episode feel far shorter — leaving one longing for more. 

The first installment of season three is five episodes long and begins with Geralt trying to find a safe place for Ciri, who is still struggling with her newfound magical abilities (but succeeding brilliantly at her fighting skills). Throughout the season, I found Geralt’s connection with Ciri to be as genuine and endearing as in the second season. Additionally, I found the way that Yennefer tried to slowly regain Geralt’s (and Ciri’s) trust to be compelling and added to each of the overall characters. 

When it becomes evident that hiding Ciri is not an option and that, eventually, they will have to fight, they decide to continue Ciri’s magical training at Aretuza, where Yennefer was trained in magic. This transition was beautifully portrayed, from the struggle to get Ciri to Aretuza in the first place to her struggle to adapt to a culture where she is not seen as the future queen she is. Freya Allen, who plays Ciri, wonderfully portrays the complex character of Ciri: both smart and naive. 

While Ciri continues to learn and grow, the world around her becomes more complex and dark. Geralt chases after Rience, who is after Ciri, and makes the startling (and sickening) discovery of girls who have been experimented on. To discover more, he must confront a character from his past — a quest that I felt added an incredibly human and personal detail to Geralt’s character. 

Regardless of the actual plot (which I still thought was excellent), the characters in season 3 were incredibly well-developed and felt truly real. Even side characters and characters who only appeared for a single episode had distinct and deep personalities, interacting with the world in a way that made it feel real.

I felt that the show really dug deeper into the characters this season, giving characters like Jaskier (my personal favorite) their own plotlines and stories. I especially loved the connection that Jaskier made with Ciri — something that I have been waiting for since the first season. 

However, the season was by no means perfect. The main plot was predictable and almost every event was heavily foreshadowed in an obvious way. However, that did not make the show any less confusing as it jumped from scene to scene and event to event. Still, I found that it did not detract from my enjoyment of the show and I was still able to follow along. 

Season three marked the final season where Geralt will be portrayed by Henry Cavill, a departure I was sad to see. He will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth moving forward. Cavill has done a brilliant job as Geralt for the past seasons, and season 3 just solidified that.

I can’t imagine anyone else as Geralt, and his ability to communicate entire ideas with just a subtle facial expression is something that will be truly hard to beat. Cavill does an excellent job at completely and totally embodying his character, making it difficult to see how it could change.

Still, I will enjoy the final episodes with Cavill as Geralt on July 29, and look forward to seeing what Hemsworth will change and keep the same about this character.