While the hype continues to build behind Cyberpunk leading up to its December 10 release, players that prefer traditional fantasy games are curious to see what CD Projekt Red develops next in its celebrated franchise, The Witcher. Since the release of the third Witcher game in 2015, it seems that the IP has only become more popular with additional forms of media with games like GWENT and The Witcher Tales: Thronebreaker, as well as the incredibly popular The Witcher series on Netflix.

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However, what The Witcher game series has lacked during these past few years has been a proper mainline sequel. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt may have provided players with a proper wrap up of Geralt’s story, but CD Projekt Red has indicated that it isn’t finished expanding on the world. In fact, according to the Polish developer, it has plans to return to The Witcher series after Cyberpunk 2077, but was very keen to say that the next entry would not be The Witcher 4.

It likely doesn’t make sense for the team at CD Projekt to name its  next Witcher game The Witcher 4. The previous mainline games in the series were all centered around the trials and tribulations of Geralt on his various quests. And with one of the dev’s principal writers possibly teasing a new protagonist that isn’t Geralt, it seems likely that the developer will drop the number altogether and decide upon a new subtitle for whatever the franchise looks like going forward.

CD Projekt Red has actually gone on record about why it can’t do The Witcher 4 a couple of years ago. In 2018, co-CEO Adam Kicinksi stated that a fourth entry in the series wasn’t possible as the development team had always intended on The Witcher games being a trilogy. However, he went on to clarify that doesn’t mean that it would be putting the franchise on the shelf and prequels and spin-offs were possible in the future.

This won’t be unfamiliar territory for The Witcher franchise. Netflix will soon have a full-length anime movie titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf centering around Geralt’s mentor Vesemir and his early days as a Witcher. And considering how popular the live-action Netflix series has become, perhaps Nightmare of the Wolf could be the beginning premise of whatever CD Projekt Red has in store for the game franchise.

The Witcher 4 is rumored to be in development.

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