The Witcher was a video game before it was a TV show—and a book series before even that. But the Netflix series stands out from previous adaptations with its costume design. Unlike books and video games, TV shows are bound by practicality, and constantly straddle the line between what looks cool and what is physically possible for actors to move in.
Let’s look back at our main characters’ best outfits from the show’s second season.
Geralt
Geralt usually wears some form of armor (unless he’s going for something more diplomatic, like in the first season’s “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials”). For his best outfit, we’re not choosing based on aesthetics alone, though, but practicality.
When costume designer Lucinda Wright redesigned Geralt’s principal look, she worked with Henry Cavill to fix things that had bothered him about the first iteration. Geralt’s season 2 armor is an improvement in two ways. The first: it actually provides a place for the character to store his potions, so he doesn’t have to seemingly pull them from thin air.
The other key improvement is the placement of Geralt’s sword and his range of movement. After discussing it with Cavill, Wright put Geralt’s scabbard on the back of the costume and adjusted the shoulders so that he could lift his arms and easily pull his sword out at the beginning of combat—something he couldn’t do in his super restricting season 1 costume.
Yennefer
Yennefer wears a lot of beautiful gowns throughout The Witcher. Wearing cool outfits seems to be a prerequisite for sorceresses from Aretuza. But our favorite costume piece from the second season is the bright purple cloak she wears while trying to move undercover without her magic.
It totally doesn’t work in a functional sense—she’s the only one in town wearing bright purple, which also happens to be the very recognizable color of her eyes, so she’s not doing a very good job of blending in. But she is doing a good job of serving looks, which in a fantasy series, is arguably more important.
Looking for the hottest entertainment?
Subscribe to our email newsletter to get the latest TV premieres, entertaining takes, and money-saving promotions.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms and Conditions.
Ciri
Ciri spent the first season on the run, a scared and confused child who didn’t understand why she could literally move mountains with her screams. So her makeover in season 2 is both visually and symbolically important—she’s wearing pants, she’s in fighting clothes, and she’s coming into her own as a Witcher-in-training.
That’s why it’s so jarring at the end of the season when she’s suddenly back in a princess gown with long hair again. As much as she wants to return to her family in Cintra, she knows she’s in a different phase of her life, and she can’t be that person who only wears princess gowns anymore. Sometimes she has to do stunts, and that involves pants.
Jaskier
Jaskier’s best outfit comes from his first appearance in season 2, when he’s achieved his dream of becoming the most famous bard on the Continent but is still heartbroken from the events of the first season.
As the pro-elf revolutionary known as The Sandpiper, Jaskier gets a coat befitting of a medieval rockstar and a cool hat. He ditches the hat pretty early on, but we can only hope it’ll make a return in season 3.
Honorable mention: Merwyn
The short-lived spinoff Blood Origin is something of a controversial topic among fans.
Maybe it was sabotaged by its December 25 release date, and maybe it was hard to follow because of its ridiculously short four-part episode count, but it just didn’t hit the same as the flagship show among audiences. (This writer personally liked it, although I thought there were way too many characters for such a short runtime).
But the costumes really stand out as the best part of the series, and some of our favorites involve the elven princess, Merwyn, who spends the entire season scheming in the coolest outfits imaginable.
The secret behind her queenly looks is a collaboration between the show’s regular costume designer, Lucinda Wright, and Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen. Merwyn’s gowns are taken straight from the runway, and that sets the bar incredibly high for fashion-forward royals in future fantasy shows.
Olivia Bono loves entertainment, and she’s never going to shut up about it. Here at CableTV.com, you’ll find her writing about the wild world of streaming. Her specialty is animation—you can find much of her work at our anime hub page. Olivia previously wrote for the Cornell Daily Sun, where in addition to television, she reviewed movies, albums, and video games. Outside of work, she loves to listen to audiobooks, make art, and spend time outdoors.
Related Posts
