Presumably operating on the theory that people really like watching handsome, silver-haired men relax in bath tubs after chopping monsters apart, Netflix announced today that it’s already granted a second season to its upcoming fantasy epic The Witcher, before the first season has even had a chance to debut. While it’s not entirely uncommon for a show to get this kind of vote of confidence—especially at Netflix, where the usual strategy is to throw a couple of seasons’ worth of spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, then dump the whole thing in the dumpster right when people are getting really attached—it does suggest that Lauren Schmidt Hissrich’s adaptation of the Polish fantasy series has scored well with initial viewers.
For those unfamiliar with either the original books, or the blockbuster video game franchise they spawned, The Witcher centers on the titular steely-eyed anti-hero, Geralt Of Rivia (Henry Cavill) whose monster-hunting day job is constantly getting interrupted by wars, angry kings, and the occasional inconvenient and mysterious waif. (Also: A whole bunch of sorceress sex.) The Netflix series is loosely adapted from some of the early Witcher stories from author Andrzej Sapkowski, and co-stars Freya Allen as the young woman who ends up in Geralt’s charge, and Anya Chalotra as his on-and-off lover (and a mage of considerable power in her own right) Yennefer.
The first season of The Witcher arrives on Netflix on December 20, just in time to celebrate the birth of Christ by watching Henry Cavill hack apart a bunch of zombies and vampires. There’s no word on when this just-announced second season might arrive.