The first episodes of Season 3 of The Witcher have been streaming on Netflix since June 29th. It takes the adventures of Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), Ciri (Freya Allan) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) in a new and more serious direction.
However, the 4th member of the witcher family is often forgotten. The bard Larkspur (originally: Jaskier), embodied by actor Joey Batey, has been part of the fantasy series since the beginning. And he’s a lot more than just a weird sidekick who sings all the time.
After The Witcher Season 3, Joey Batey reminisces with Henry Cavill and Whiskey
Since its first appearance, the delphinium has been gaining in profile and depth. In Season 3, his character development reaches its peak so far. Of course he can continue to crack jokes and sing songs. In the new episodes, however, the Netflix series explores completely new facets of his emotional lifewhen the Redanian Prince Radovid (Hugh Skinner) turns his head.
In terms of queer representation, the first two seasons left a lot to be desired. This is different in Season 3. Not only the lesbian sorceress Philippa Eilhart (Cassie Clare) plays a leading role. Our favorite bard can finally clear himself of queerbaiting allegations. Delphinium’s bisexuality —or pansexuality, if we include other fantasy species—becomes an important part of his story.
At the start of the new episodes of The Witcher (click here for the first impression of season 3) I was allowed to meet Joey Batey for an interview and talk to him about it Improvisations on the set, the time together with Henry Cavill and his demands talk about the portrayal of Dandelion’s sexuality.
Movie Pilot/Netflix
Joey Batey in the Moveipilot interview
Moviepilot: Some of the funniest Larkspur moments were improvised in the first 2 seasons. What were you able to improvise while shooting this time?
Joey Batey: Honestly, I can’t say. When I play Delphinium, I’m no longer in my own body. He has a mind of his own. Also, I play a lot of things differently with every single take. I like to include my own jokes and ask Henry [Cavill] then: “Did you like him?” And he then says: “Yeah that’s funny. Let us do this.” There were a few moments like that. Otherwise I was able to improvise in most of the scenes with Vespula [Anm. d. Red.: Rittersporns Geliebte]. We danced around the script for a lot of the dialogue in those scenes.
Your dynamic with Henry Cavill is an essential part of the character. Do you think it will be a challenge for you to pull that off with Liam Hemsworth? From season 4 he takes over the role of Geralt.
I don’t think it will be a challenge. Jaskier is an incredibly reactive role. He adapts to people’s energy and plays with the dialogue and with everyone around him. Rather, a large part of our deliberations will be figuring out what Liam [Hemsworth] brings into the role. I don’t want to talk about Liam’s preparation. I know she’s thorough and I know he’s really into it. I’m just looking forward to finding out what kind of chemistry we have together.
What are your fondest memories of spending time with Henry from the three seasons of The Witcher?
Henry and I just reminisced over a glass of whiskey over lunch. It’s the little off-camera moments, to be honest. Nondescript looks or jokes we make. The endless inside gags from five years working together. But also the sensitivity that we both have for each other.
Henry is a very conscientious person. He is always in the here and now. He notices things that other people don’t notice. And I’d like to believe that I do too. On particularly stressful days, we often get in touch with each other and ask: “Are you all right? Everything OK?” Then we joke about it. This is how we support each other. Those are the kind of moments that will stick in my memory and will be missed.
Joey Batey called for changes to how Delphinium’s bisexuality was portrayed in The Witcher Season 3
The Witcher – Season 3 Trailer (German) HD
What I really like about Season 3 is that we’re finally getting more queer representation with Dandelion’s blossoming romance. What was important to you in portraying his bisexuality?
I insisted that it be sensitively portrayed. As soon as I got the first drafts of the scripts, I offered my thoughts and insisted that some things be changed. I wanted to make sure we didn’t go into clichés and hide his bisexuality. We wanted this to be a natural progression from the character and a new side of him to explore that we haven’t seen as an audience. One of the biggest changes was the inclusion of Vespula [Anm. d. Red.: Um deutlich zu machen, dass Rittersporn auf Personen unabhängig von ihrem Geschlecht steht]. That was my idea.
Also, I asked for an entire scene to be removed and replaced with a song that I wrote. Joel Trapanese, our composer, helped me with this. I wanted to try to avoid any dialogue with the song and just go straight to the human connection. That meant a lot to me and I’m incredibly grateful that the writers and our showrunner Lauren Hissrich were open to this kind of collaboration. It made me feel like I was really in charge of portraying the character.
Can you already reveal what we can expect from Larkspur in The Witcher Season 3 Part 2?
As in the first half of the season, Dandelion’s avuncular role for Ciri is further expanded. But we also see him explore his romance a little further and his own integrity put to the test. He has a big decision to make. But I think it’s an easy decision.
Thank you for the interview!
This interview has been shortened and condensed.
More news about The Witcher:
When is The Witcher Season 3 Part 2 coming to Netflix?
The Witcher Season 3 will be released in two parts on Netflix. Issue 1 with a total of 5 episodes has been available on Netflix since June 29, 2023. The remaining three episodes will be released on July 27, 2023.