The Witcher Season 2 Under Fire From PETA
The Witcher Season 2 continues the monster-hunting of the first season, but PETA has taken issue with some particular animals being used in this new stretch of episodes.
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It has been quite some time since The Witcher Season 2 landed on Netflix and we thought that the next time we will see Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) and the other characters facing gigantic troubles would be in Season 3. But now, the show is up against a real-life hurdle: PETA, the animal rights organization, which is not happy with the fact that Season 2 opts to use live animals in the show instead of going for their CGI creations.
PETA is one of the few international organizations worldwide that raise its voice against the mistreatment of animals and fight for their rights. Days after The Witcher Season 2 debuted on the streamer, the organization has proceeded to release a scathing statement against the show, criticizing that it has a “monster problem” and advising Netflix subscribers to drop the series in favor of those that follow more humane practices. The statement points out that the producers of the show “monstrously” choose to use a live lemur and squirrel monkeys, as well as other animals when they could have easily gone for the modern CGI technology.
“The entertainment industry typically prematurely separates these animals from their mothers and thwarts their instinctual needs to explore, choose mates, raise young, and forage, which is why kind audiences should skip The Witcher and instead toss a coin to the many films and shows that feature only willing human performers,” reads the statement by PETA directed at the creators of The Witcher Season 2.
Netflix nor anyone associated with The Witcher Season 2 has responded to PETA’s statement yet. It is also highly unlikely that this would affect the series’ future, as it has already been renewed for Season 3. Recently, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed that work on the scripts for the upcoming season is done and the “creative process” has begun, which will ensure that Season 3 will “start delving in deeper” into the Witcher lore.
The Witcher Season 2 takes off where the last season ended- Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) seemingly sacrificing herself at the Battle of Sodden by summoning dark magic to win the fight and Geralt of Rivia finally uniting with Ciri (Freya Allan). Geralt arrives in Sodden in hopes of meeting up with his estranged love interest Yennefer only to be told by a dejected Tissaia (MyAnna Buring) that she probably perished in the battle to beat the Nilfgaardian soldiers. A broken-hearted Geralt then proceeds to focus on protecting Ciri and takes her Kaer Morhen, the home of all the Witchers.
Here Ciri begins shedding her victim status from Season 1 and starts training to ensure that she is ready the next time an enemy targets her. But troubles are already here- new, mutated monsters are cropping up everywhere and even Kaer Morhen isn’t the safe haven it used to be. Powerful secrets and shocking betrayals are the norm in The Witcher Season 2 and by the time the finale roles in, Geralt of Rivia has more enemies than allies who barely managed to survive.
Currently, The Witcher Season 3 has no production date nor a tentative release schedule but hopefully, unlike The Witcher Season 2, it won’t take two years to debut on the streamer. And till it does release, we have plenty of Witcher content to binge on. There is an upcoming six-part miniseries, The Witcher: Blood Origin which will serve as a prequel to the original show and will debut on Netflix sometime in 2022. Other projects include a family-friendly animated TV series as well as a second anime feature, the sequel to the previously released The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
