The Witcher characters drawn together by “shared love of sadomasochism” in S3

Two of The Witcher’s stars revealed that their characters are drawn together by a “shared love of sadomasochism” in Season 3. 

The Witcher has returned to Netflix once more, with Season 3 Vol 1 bringing more monsters, mages, and monarchs, as well as an epic turn from Henry Cavill as he prepares to step away from the role of Geralt for good. 

As we said in our review: “Ever since it was revealed that Season 3 will be the star’s last outing with The Witcher, Cavillians have been promising to boycott the series. But those who do will be missing out on another solid performance from the white-haired monster hunter.”

Though all eyes will be on Cavill in Season 3, there are plenty of other characters and their narratives to enjoy in the latest batch of episodes, including two who have a penchant for sadomasochism. 

The Witcher characters enjoy a “shared love of sadomasochism”

Dexerto caught up with Graham McTavish and Cassie Clare ahead of the release of The Witcher Season 3, where they opened up about their respective characters: the powerful sorceress Philippa Eilhart and her spymaster partner in crime Sigismund Dijkstra.

Though we know they share a fondness for plotting, in Episode 2, we get to learn more about their relationship as Philippa and Dijkstra get a little kinky in a BDSM scene featuring whips and chains. It’ll come as no surprise to anyone – especially fans of the games – that Philippa is the dom and Dijkstra is the sub. 

When asking Clare and McTavish what it is that draws the characters together, they joked that their “shared love of sadomasochism” certainly helps, while elaborating on the psychology behind their partnership. 

“When you’re dealing with people whose job almost is to deceive, when you start to think, ‘Well, perhaps I’m being deceived by you,’ that can be tricky,” explained McTavish. “But they also have a shared love of sadomasochism, which is obviously a very handy thing. I don’t know, when that came up in conversation, do you think?”

“Very early on, probably the first thing they said,” quipped Clare, to which McTavish joked: “Really, ‘S&M?’”

Clare went into further detail about how her character is drawn to intelligent people, and how this makes the dynamic between Philippa and Dijkstra so interesting to see play out. 

“I think Phillipa’s really drawn to Dijkstra [as] there’s not a lot of characters that she has any respect for,” she said. “I think Philippa’s drawn to people who are very intelligent. And I think that’s why sometimes she goes, ‘Oh, you’re a smart one. Actually, I kind of like you, bit cool.’ 

“And she definitely sees Dijkstra as one of the most intelligent people around. She’s drawn to people with magic and power and things like that. So I always really enjoyed it when I got to do scenes with the characters that she respects because the vibe is so different.”

Clare went on to say: “The way they feed off each other, it’s almost like it’s giving each other ideas and things like that. I think she enjoys coming up with the schemes, planning 10 steps ahead.”

The Witcher Season 3 Part 1 is streaming on Netflix now, while Part 2 arrives on July 27. You can read more about the show here, and check out some of our other Netflix coverage below:

The Night Agent Season 2 | The Gentlemen | Sex Education Season 4 | Beef Season 2 | Monster Season 2 | Will there be Ginny and Georgia Season 3? | All the Light We Cannot See | Stranger Things Season 5 | The Witcher Season 3 | Chicken Run 2 | Heartstopper Season 2 | Florida Man Season 2 | Obsession Season 2 | The Sandman Season 2