The Witcher Fantasy Novels to Get New Adaptation via Netflix
It’s the witching hour at Netflix, which has announced a straight-to-series order for a new drama based on the Witcher book saga.
The forthcoming fantasy drama, adapted from the eight novels written by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, centers on “witchers,” who are described as “hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly monsters.” Sapkowski will serve as a creative consultant on the project; Sean Daniel and Jason Brown (The Expanse) will executive-produce.
“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over 30 years writing,” Sapkowski said in a statement. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”
The Witcher series has been adapted before, both as a poorly received 2001 Polish film (that Sapkowski was no fan of, at all) and tepidly received TV offshoot (both dubbed The Hexer). It also spawned a series of video games.
Will you eventually tune in for a television show based on The Witcher?
The games are great, so it could potentially be good…And, also put Game of Thrones to shame when it comes to the amount of nakedness on screen.
Hah! Such a footnote regarding the games. They are beloved and big time sellers. That will drive the majority of the interest at least initially.
My thought exactly!
Very strange! It’s a MASSIVE game series. I didn’t even know it was based on a book.
The video games – by far, FAR and away the most culturally prominent version of this story – barely getting a mention in this article is weird.
But games aren’t really a version of this story – sure, they took certain parts and recycled it but contents of three short-story anthologies and five books don’t really have a lot in common with the games. Also, it’s worth noting that Sapkowski’s relationship with the games is a bit of a sore topic because people recognize the game titles but not his books.
It does. Games are building on them.
Nevertheless, the guy who directed all of The Witcher games’ trailers is also locked in to direct at least one episode. So perhaps we can be hopeful that eventually some of the other creative talent involved in the critically acclaimed games could sign on here. The writing in the series is truly superb.
Actually, I think the “The Hexer” tv series was first and then they used the footage from the show to make a film (so you can imagine how that one looked like).
One sentence about the games….. 25 million copies sold. It boosted the books to the point that the english translations started coming out in 07. Same year the first game came out. The Witcher 3 Alone won game of the year in 2015.
If they take the template from Wild Hunt, No complaints from me.
Are there witches in this??
There are sorceress and sorcerers, but the Witchers aren’t actually “witches” in any traditional sense, (though they do possess supernatural abilities.)
Witcher 3 is one of the best video games of all time. If they stay true to the books, it will be a hit. There are a ton of characters they can develop. I just hope the woman they pick to portray Yennifer is just as hot as the pixel generated version! LOL
Eva Green is a popular choice among the fanbase. She’d be great, for sure.
The games definitely deserve more mention here, because they serve as a sequel of sorts to the original novels. So in effect they’ve done the enormous favor of introducing millions of people to a pre-established cast of characters. The adventures might predate the non-canonical games, but fans (myself included) will still be hugely excited to see these characters brought to life. And it would be foolish to think that Netflix isn’t aware or even pulling some influence from the games, considering they’ve brought on director Tomasz Baginski who’s done Witcher game cinematics. Here’s hoping it’ll be the best of both worlds.
I’ve enjoyed Netflix adaptation of Unfortuare Events. Hopefully they can do the same for Witcher
i have never read any of the novels, but the games are wonderful. I am just talking about the rich storylines and settings.
Really? interesting. Great games… some of the best in that genre ever. Not sure how it becomes a series, but it’s adult, and there should be lots of naked time.