A Discovery of Witches season 3 | What's happened so far?

Matt Maynard • 06 Jan 2022 Features

A Discovery of Witches returns for its third and final season on 7th January on Sky.

A Discovery of Witches season 3 | What's happened so far?

Ahead of A Discovery of Witches season 3 releasing, let’s catch up on the action of both season one and season two so far to refresh your memory.

WARNING: Spoilers for seasons one and two ahead!

What happened in season 1 of A Discovery of Witches?

Dr Diana Bishop, played by Teresa Palmer, was born to witches but orphaned as a child, spending her life avoiding the use of her powers that she couldn’t control.

Fate would have her career take Dr Bishop to Oxford’s Bodleian Library where she would discover an extremely powerful and coveted book said to contain the secret to vampire creation. She also met Matthew Clairmont, played by Matthew Goode, a geneticist studying the disappearance of magical creatures’ powers and their decline on earth - he also just happens to be a 1500-year-old vampire seeking the book.

Oblivious to the intrigue stirred throughout the magical creatures on Earth, Diana attempts to fight the pull towards the magic within her, but things take a dark turn when Peter Knox, an expert on occult studies, sends Satu, a powerful witch, to intimidate her. Scared, Dr Bishop turns to Matthew who introduces her to his vampire friends, Marcus and Miriam. It is revealed the reason for magical creature’s decline: vampires are failing to sire, witches are less powerful than their ancestors and daemons are prone to mental illness.

Diana receives pictures from Knox of the scene from her parents’ murder, which causes her to go and confront him. She summons a powerful witch wind which she can’t control and Matthew must come to save her, and takes her away to his home in France.

Knox accuses Matthew of kidnapping Diana, while Baldwin (vampire leader and Matthew’s brother) is told by Marcus (revealed to be Matthew’s son) that Diana summoned the powerful book, which as a Vampire, he calls the Book of Life. Matthew reveals the photos sent by Knox to Diana are fake and says her parents were killed by witches. Vampire Domenico travels to Matthew and Diana’s whereabouts and accuses them of breaking the covenant as they are having an inter-specie relationship. Matthew leaves Diana after she tells him she loves him, which causes her to cry and bring about witch water, another power witch ability.

Matthew discovers from drinking Gillian’s blood that as a human he had a wife and young son who died from disease. He rushes back to his home in France and tells Diana he loves her too, and Matthew’s mother, Ysabeau, vows to fight alongside them in their quest.

After having spent her first night with Matthew, Diana is grabbed by an unknown figure while out on a run, who turns out to be the witch Satu. She tortures Diana but loses her powers. Matthew and Baldwin arrive to save Diana, who has been thrown into a well. Upon hearing Matthew’s voice she summons her powers and raises herself out, and goes back to recover in Matthew’s home in France.

Upon discovering she is spellbound (when a witch’s powers are limited or restrained) she travels with Matthew to her childhood home in New York, where she confronts her aunts. One of her aunts, Sarah, is shocked, but her other aunt, Emily, admits she knew and kept it from her. It is revealed that Diana’s parents hid her powers to protect her from the congregation - the governing body of supernatural races. Sarah tries to teach Diana how to use her powers properly, until she is confronted by the vampire Juliette, Matthew’s former lover.

Juliette mortally wounds Matthew, which results in Diana killing her with a bolt of witch fire, but Diana calls on the Goddess and allows Matthew to drink her blood to save him. The two of them timewalk (a witch’s ability to time travel) to hide from the congregation while Diana can learn to control her witch power.

What happened in season 2 of A Discovery of Witches?

Matthew and Diana timewalk to London in 1590 at the time of All Hallow’s Eve, where they meet Matthew’s friend and daemon, Kit Marlowe, who instantly distrusts Diana because she is a witch. In this time period, Matthew is known as Matthew Roydon, a member of the School of Night, and also a spy for the English crown. Diana and Matthew question a street urchin named Jack and find out that a local tavern frequented by Kit was the origin of rumours being spread. They both confront the daemon and supposed friend of Matthew’s, Kit, and suggest he does not betray them again.

Matthew is ordered to interrogate a witch named Thomas Caldwell which puts him in conflict with Andrew Hubbard, a vampire who reigns over all of London’s creatures and maintains a truce with the de Clermonts. Diana is introduced to England’s most powerful witch, Goody Alsop, who tells Diana she is a rare kind of witch called a weaver, also telling her her father must’ve been one too. Goody is granted permission from the witch’s council to teach Diana how to master her powers, while Matthew kills Caldwell to spare him from further torture.

Diana’s new friend and teacher of alchemical experiments, Mary Sidney, recommends she visit John Dee to help her find a rare alchemical text she is searching for. Dee, who has the largest library in England, believes he might have had the Book of Life in his possession, but tells Diana it was stolen by Edward Kelley, a former scribe of his. Meanwhile Queen Elizabeth orders Matthew to bring Kelley back to England as it is believed he knows the secret to immortality.

Philippe, Matthew’s father, swiftly deduces that Diana is a timewalker and Matthew is in fact a version of himself from the future. It transpires, with thanks to Matthew’s father, that Diana and Matthew have not “fully mated” which upsets Diana. A witch named Andre Champier arrives and tries to steal Diana’s memories, but Diana kills him with the sword from Matthew’s belt. Matthew reveals to Diana that the reason why he lied to her was because of the blood rage that runs through his family. Philippe makes Diana his bloodsword daughter and arranges for them both to get married.

Matthew and Diana arrive in Bohemia and search for evidence of Kelley’s presence, but Diana ends up revealing her magical abilities in order to gain information of his whereabouts. In doing so, images missing from the Book of Life in the future materialise, and the two of them manage to escape with them.

Goody Alsop tells Diana that she is with child, and finally completes the seventh knot and summons her familiar, a firedrake named Corra. Queen Elizabeth is disappointed in Matthew's failure to retrieve Kelley and detains him, but is granted her forgiveness after revealing the future to her. Kit betrays Diana and leads her to where Louisa is waiting to murder her, but her familiar, Corra, is unleashed to defend her.

Diana’s father comes to 1591 searching for the Book of Life, which gives Diana a chance to gain valuable information and to also say goodbye. Diana completes her training with Goody Alsop and bids her farewell, while Knox lures Emily to the temple where she last performed her ritual and kills her when she doesn’t give him the page from the Book of Life. Diana and Matthew prepare to leave 1591 and return to the present day.