‘The Witcher’: the author of the books finally gives his opinion on the Netflix series

The film and television industry has countless adaptations of books, video games, comics and various other formats, which causes comparisons between the original product and the adaptation. One such case is ‘The Witcher’, a Netflix series with Henry Cavill drinking from the ‘Geralt de Rivia Saga’, fantasy novels by writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

Since its premiere in 2019, many people who have read the books have spoken about the fidelity of the TV adaptation, but if it was interesting to know one particular opinion, it was Sapkowski’s. Four years after the first season of “The Witcher”, we know what the author of the Netflix series thinks. At the 2023 Taipei International Book Exhibition, he was asked about this adaptation of his novels: “I’ve seen better. I’ve seen worse”was limited to To say. While it’s true that he doesn’t seem to be passionate about the series, it doesn’t seem like he’s scared either.

We can think that he doesn’t say it simply to make a good impression, if the result terrified him, he could say it without problems as he has done on other occasions. He repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with him for “The Hexer”, a 2001 Polish film also inspired by his stories by Geralt de Rivia. “I can only answer with one word, an obscene”he said of that film. Whether it’s because the Netflix adaptation is decent or because ‘The Hexer’ left him with insurmountable trauma, the author has no problem with ‘The Witcher’.

Cavill, one more fan

As Henry Cavill himself has repeatedly explained, the actor is a big fan of Sapkowski’s novels, so the fidelity of the Netflix series to the original work is important for him. However, this does not depend on him, it is the authors of the series who have the power to make a good or bad adaptation. However, Cavill revealed in 2021 that he did his part to make ‘The Witcher’ season two a little more faithful to the books: “There’s a bit at the very beginning of ‘Blood of Elves’ (novel) where Geralt loses consciousness on Sodden Hill and has a vision where he talks to Death. Then there’s some nice words about crossing the meadow and the fog. That scene was not in the series, but these words captivated me with their poetry and were so wonderfully “Sapkowski” that I wanted my Geralt to say them. I didn’t feel like arguing at length about whether I could add it somewhere, so I did, said the words on camera, and was ready to face the consequences. I finally got it right and it’s in season two.”

‘The Witcher’, centered on the adventures of Geralt de Rivia, presents its third season this summer, last in which we will see Henry Cavill as the wizardfrom the fourth he will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth.