Netflix has confirmed that The Witcher season 2, Sex Education season 3 and You season 3 will all return in the second half of 2021 as part of a recent earnings letter – in a follow-up discussion, this was later narrowed down to the final quarter of 2021 for You and The Witcher specifically, so between October and the end of the year.
"We anticipate paid membership growth will re-accelerate in the second half of 2021 as we ramp into a very strong back half slate with the return of big hits like Sex Education, The Witcher, La Casa de Papel (aka Money Heist), and You," Netflix says. All three shows have been wrapping up production in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and fans have been waiting for well over a year to see Henry Cavill return in The Witcher.
Sex Education season 3 reportedly filmed in a bubble in the UK late last year, meaning cast and crew had to isolate first in order to film it. Fans will no doubt be glad to have the comedy back.
Otherwise, Netflix drummed up excitement for its big new movies coming up later in 2021, "including the finale to The Kissing Booth trilogy and large scale, star-driven features like Red Notice (starring Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds) and Don’t Look Up (with an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep)."
Sounds like an exciting second half, to make up for a slightly more muted opening salvo for 2021.
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In the same letter, Netflix said it has missed its subscriber target for the first quarter of 2021, blaming its extraordinary performance from 2020 and a "lighter content slate" caused by the pandemic.
Netflix wanted to add 6 million users for the period in question, but ended up adding 4 million instead – still, its overall subscriber base stands at an extraordinary 207.6 million, which is more than three times the number of people who live in the United Kingdom.
The letter to investors also explained that it hit all-time highs on profits and revenues, indicating that things are going swimmingly for the streaming service otherwise. That's partly because production delays, caused by the pandemic, meant Netflix spent less on content in that time.
The pandemic streaming boom isn't necessarily over, then, but people are no doubt excited to see their favorites return after a long delay.
