Warning: spoilers for The Witcher season 4 ahead.
Even before watching The Witcher season 4, you might have guessed that the season finale would have the best plot reveal. However, I think this actually happens in episode 6 of the hit Netflix show – which I'd also say is the strongest episode of the series.
It's when the Battle of Montecalvo takes place, bringing the villainous Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) face-to-face with Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and the remaining witches of Aretuza. Visually, it's a feast, packed with action sequences that are so dynamic, they unfold in the blink of an eye.
Everybody is at risk, and they know it. Yennefer's base camp at Montecalvo has been training to take on Vilgefortz's unhinged brand of chaos magic as well as they can, but really, we're all just waiting for Yennefer and Vilgefortz to try and take each other down.
It happens, but there's a surprise waiting for us – as Vilgefortz tries to track Yennefer down, former lover Tissaia (MyAnna Buring) is waiting for him. But how is this possible, given she took her own life in season 3?
Because it's actually Yennefer, disguising herself using illusion magic to bring Vilgefortz's guard down. It works, but it had my hopes up for a miraculous return (Tissaia is easily my favorite Witcher character of all time).
Thankfully, I had the chance to ask showunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich how it all happened – and yes, it means Tissaia could technically return once again in season 5.
Tissaia's cameo in The Witcher season 4 episode 6 'filmed new scenes' for illusion magic reveal
"New scenes were filmed for this," Schmidt-Hissrich confirms. "Sasha Harris, who's our amazing producer, will say when someone dies on our show, 'Are they dead, or are they Lauren-dead?' That means they may come back at any point. Oftentimes, we say goodbye to actors and it's like, 'actually, can you come back? Am I real? Am I a ghost?' My vision is, we'll figure it out.
"I love that you love the Battle of Monte Calvo," she tells me. "We had to work really hard this season. In the books, Yennefer is not a huge presence in this particular story. She's a jade statue for a lot of it. The stories of the females on this show are very important and we didn't want to sideline her, so we had to craft a story almost from scratch.
"The Battle of Montecalvo is mentioned in the books, but we're never really there for it. So it was so much fun to delve into and just be creative. Our surprise visitor is one of my favorite moments."
For me, Schmidt-Hissrich's telling me literally anybody can come back from the dead is enough fuel for my delusional fire to believe we could see Tissaia in The Witcher season 5. Both seasons 4 and 5 were filmed back-to-back... so if she was filming episode 6 anyway, why not keep her on the payroll for a little longer?
Given that Geralt (Liam Hemsworth), Yennefer and Ciri (Freya Allen) are all still separated by the time season 4 ends, The Witcher season 5 could throw just about anything at us. A lot of characters have died in the interim, and I'm all for as many as possible having a dramatic return.
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