Cinesite reveal their significant contribution to Netflix’s fantasy epic
Having delivered VFX for all three previous seasons, Cinesite’s teams in London and Montreal worked closely with Production VFX Supervisors Richard Reed and Sara Bennett to bring to life The Witcher‘s terrifying creatures, spectacular battles, and complex magic, and are now peeling back the curtain on their VFX magic.
Season 4 of The Witcher, directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Tricia Brock, Alex Garcia Lopez and Jeremy Webb, follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri as they traverse a war-ravaged world. After the continent-altering events of Season 3, the heroes are faced with new demons—and familiar ones—all while navigating their paths apart from one another.
The team was given a unique opportunity to revisit one of the series’ most memorable moments. In a clever narrative device, Season 4 opens with a retelling of Geralt’s original fight against the Kikimora, a sequence Cinesite crafted back in 2019 for the very first episode. This time, we see the battle from a new perspective, as a folk-tale being recounted to children. The familiar sequence—which introduced Henry Cavill’s Geralt to the world—is reimagined with Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt. Cinesite’s artists gave the Kikimora a new lease of life, presenting a re-choreographed fight which is more dangerous and intense than ever. Having killed the adult, Geralt must face off against four terrifying young Kikimoras. Creating the battle required extensive planning, meticulous compositing and complex animation & choreography to bring the four creatures, and their combined 32 limbs, to life.
“It was a fantastic creative challenge to revisit a sequence so iconic to the series. The storytelling device gave us the opportunity to add new layers of complexity and action, showcasing Geralt’s powers in a fresh way while paying homage to the original action.”
Zave Jackson, VFX Supervisor in London
The Cinesite London team also revisited a key battle from Season 3 between Geralt and powerful sorcerer, Vilgefortz. This reimagined sword fight, which takes place on a beach near Aretuza, allowed Cinesite to add a lineup of briefly glimpsed magical beasts – the amphibious Aeschna, airborne Chernobog, and deadly Basilisk – along with other invisible and magic related battle visual effects, again raising the jeopardy stakes against Geralt.
Meanwhile, Cinesite’s Montreal team took on a spectacular magic duel between Yennefer and Vilgefortz. They designed and created a fresh aesthetic and colour scheme for Yennefer’s magic, to signal that she’s unleashing her full power in a way not seen before. Vilgefortz’ evil power manifests as a black, tar-like substance which oozes out of the storm of sorcery. The visual effects for this sequence were created as a close collaboration between the FX and compositing teams, overseen by VFX Supervisor Nathalie Girard.
“The creative liberty was a true gift. We had a fabulous opportunity to show our true colors and bring a new light to magic duals. We approached the technical challenges with our expertise and teamed up with the client to make this a memorable experience and great visual effects to admire.”
Nathalie Girard, VFX Supervisor in Montreal
Additional work by this team included another sequence set in a swamp, with Geralt fighting to free himself from vine-like Rusalka creatures, hidden beneath the water’s surface.
See Cinesite’s showreel here:
The series is now streaming on Netflix.
