As Lucinda Wright stepped into the role of costume designer for “The Witcher” season two, her goal was to not make it look like a new person had joined behind the camera. She wanted to keep the continuity of the first season, while adding subtle changes to the costumes.
While the scripts by Lauren Schmidt guided her, so did the actors. Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt, sat down with Wright telling her about the first season’s costumes and gave her feedback about what he did and didn’t like. With that, she went away and found new ways to update the costumes, making small changes while keeping that consistency from the first season. She also looked at how the characters would evolve in their fantastical journey. Cavill’s main request? “He wanted the costumes to feel like a second skin,” Wright says.
While she stays quiet on the looks for season three, Wright confirms she is already back at work on the next set of outfits for “The Witcher.”
Popular on Variety
The costume designer broke down how she enhanced the looks of season two.
Geralt
Sorcerers and elves are featured in “The Witcher” as Cavill’s Geralty of Rivia becomes a guardian to Princess Ciri (Feya Allen). With the serious tone of season two, Wright made some subtle changes to his armor.
“I love working with leather, and with Henry’s armor, it gives such a great texture. When I first met Henry – and he loves Geralt, one of the first things we did was sit down and he told me what worked and what didn’t.
“Henry has these amazing shoulders, so it was about embellishing that and following his silhouette. It was to make him look threatening but also agile. I also wanted to keep the silver-studded look from one carrying it through. We worked for months on it actually to get it right. It really rewarding seeing him in it and knowing he was happy.
The outfit was very light. It was made by Robert Allsopp who works with me in the costume department. One thing we did do was to put the sword on the back because in season one, it was cluttering him. We changed the scabbard so he could put his arm out to touch it. We made that costume easy for him to get out of. There was one buckle on the side, he could be out and gone, and that’s why I introduced buckles. “In total, we had eight sets of armor, one was for stunts and one was for horseback, another was for water.
The Women of “The Witcher” – Yennefer and Ciri
Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan) are central to the show’s plot. Wright looked at Tudor influences in her designs.
This season we see a softer side of Yennefer, so I wanted to bring in that softer approach and draw on the color of her eyes. She had various looks, including the samurai look which you see when she’s strutting around, and there’s the coat with the bejeweled motif down the back. I think her strength is her backbone. She’s as strong as anything, no matter what comes at her, so I always tend to do her back.
“With her, deep down, she’s as strong as anything, no matter what. So, there was a softer look to her. There was a dress [in episode 3] that’s black and sequined, but it’s dripping off of her, and a complete change to the season one rope dress which was really restricting. It was important to have purple around her.”
For Ciri, her wardrobe shifted as her character evolves. She starts to train more, and so her wardrobe became more practical, as the character evolves. Wright kept her color palette bright with greens, which enhanced her green contact lenses.
“All the characters had their own palette. She very much mirrors Geralt in a way, as a child of destiny. Her look is almost like her own corset and a take on his armor.”