If you're done with Netflix's Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski is writing the first new book in 10 years

Henry Cavill reads The Witcher: The Last Wish

(Image credit: Netflix)

Good news for anyone who won't be watching the Hemsworth-helmed Witcher Netflix show: Author Andrzej Sapkowski has confirmed that he's working on a new book in the original series, and he thinks it'll be ready soon. No word yet on whether it will be suitable for Americans and young people.

In an interview with the fantasy writers over at Ukrainian YouTube channel Fantastic Talks (translated by Witcher fansite Redanian Intelligence), Sapkowski revealed that he is "quite diligently" working on a new book in the Witcher series and that it "may take a year, but no longer". As someone who continues to wait stoically for the arrival of The Winds of Winter, I have no idea how to process this kind of accelerated time frame, but I'm glad at least one fantasy audience out there is eating well.

Kind of well, anyway. It's only been five years since Sapkowski's last Witcher book—Season of Storms—got published in English, but that was five years after its original Polish publication. That's still a pretty long time to wait if you've been champing at the bit for more of Sapkowski's Geralt, but at least we can assume the English translation of the next one will be a bit quicker given how absolutely massive The Witcher is as a brand now.

Sapkowski gave no hint as to what the next book will be about, but Redanian Intelligence adroitly noted an interview the author gave in 2018 where he said that—whenever he got around to writing a new book—it would very likely be a "prequel or sidequel," rather than a follow-on to The Lady of the Lake, the final Witcher story in the series' timeline (not counting the games, which Sapkowski doesn't consider proper canon).

I haven't actually seen any of Netflix's Witcher beyond the very first episode, which means I'm mercifully aloof from a lot of the furore that seems to surround literally every discussion of it online. I have recently started reading the novels after a site called PC Gamer dot com told me the best reading order for the Witcher books, though, and I'm glad to add another one to my to-read pile.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.