With more and more information and photos being released for Netflix’s upcoming The Witcher series, fans of both the novels and video games have become divided as to which way the show is going to go. Some even commenting negatively about particular characters not resembling their video game counterparts.
According to Lauren Hissrich, showrunner for the series, that is because the show won’t be following in the footsteps of the video games but instead take after the original Andrzej Sapkowski novels.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hissrich said the following:
“We’re not adapting the videogames, it’s a straight adaptation of the books. Which is great as the videogames are also an adaptation of the books. They went one direction, we actually get to go another. We’re kind of holding close to our chest what we’re doing in the first season. There’s a lot of obviously epic excitement that starts in the saga of the books. But the short stories provided a lot of world building and lay the foundation of this continent and the politics of it and the understanding of the people of it and those really came into focus in the first season.”
Hissrich also mentioned that, like in real life, there aren’t necessarily “good guys and bad guys”. Meaning the series won’t have a central villain for Geralt to pursue. Personally, this is extremely exciting, because some of the short stories they will (hopefully) include in the show are phenomenal and benefit from having a very narrow focus, while simultaneously fleshing out the universe the Witcher takes place in.
“It’s not a secretive aspect. There isn’t really a villain. One of the things we’re enjoying exploring is all the shades of grey in the books. The characters you’re rooting for in the beginning may not be the characters you’re rooting for in the end. And characters you hate and seem absolutely evil are motivated by something that’ts really relatable and human and emotional. I found writing it and then watching it afterward that your allegiance switches a lot. You constantly try to put yourself in the shoes of characters and think what would you do [in a situation]. I think you’ll end up having a lot of empathy for characters you didn’t expect to.”
With Game of Thrones being over, people are craving the next big show, and this could very well be it. The Witcher is set to release later this year and will consist of eight hour-long episodes.
