'The Witcher' Season 2 starts pre-production after hiatus

Principal photography for "The Witcher" Season 2 is back following a three-month hiatus that started in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pre-production is in full swing at Arborfield Studios in Surrey ahead of the return of filming in August. According to Redanian Intelligence, the crew prepped the studios with old and new sets. Construction of the massive town set which originally began in November 2019 also resumed. It is believed that the instalment will feature the towns of Oxenfurt or Gors Velen.

Showrunner Lauren Hissrich has been in the U.K. since the end of June to oversee the pre-production along with executive producer Tomek Baginski. He has been on the site trying to secure the set from unwanted photographers, probably to prevent set photos from leaking again.

The first months of production for "The Witcher" Season 2 gave fans a lot to ponder on and theorise about, based on leaked set photos. The images revealed the involvement of the Elven army and more.

Production on "The Witcher" Season 2 started in January and stopped mid-March due to the COVID-19 crisis. Hissrich said that they already filmed two episodes and that they were in the middle of a big sequence before Netflix stopped production.

Hissrich admitted that it would be challenging to do the physical stunts in "The Witcher" Season 2 given the social distancing measures implemented. She discussed the preparations they had to make, including making changes to the story, to keep up with the safety and health guidelines.

"Right now, it's a lot of production meetings, a lot of talking about how to keep people safe... A lot of it is just about flexibility, not just in the planning phases but when we get back on sets. It's about personal comfort and personal safety," Hissrich told The Wrap.

"The Witcher" Season 2 is set to resume filming on Aug. 17 after the United Kingdom allowed the resumption of production for major films and TV shows. The approval was given on the condition that cast and crew members strictly follow health and safety regulations implemented to avoid or limit the risk of COVID-19 infections.