When it comes to The Witcher, it’s one of the best examples of having adaptations across multiple forms of media and having those adaptations be good. It started as a book series, then was picked up by CD Projekt Red, who turned it into an award-winning gaming franchise, and then Netflix grabbed it, and they’ve had three seasons of it on their streaming service, with a spinoff or two to boot. So you’d think that franchise fans and those associated with it would be happy with everything happening. However, when it comes to the franchise’s creator, he does have some bitter feelings.
The Witcher was created by Andrzej Sapkowski, who infamously made a serious error with the CD Projekt Red adaptions by asking only for a lump sum of money to sell them the rights to the games instead of getting a percentage of the profits. Oops. He learned to live with that, but in a recent interview during Vienna Comic Con, Andrezej was asked about the Netflix series and whether the showrunners ever took his advice. He laughed at the notion while saying:
“But no, maybe I gave them some ideas, but they never listen to me. They never listen to me, but it’s normal, ‘Who’s this? It’s the writer, it’s nobody.'”
Now, some have noted that Andrezej sounded really sarcastic during the interview, and he’s noted that he’s not a fan of those works that adapt his series. So don’t take this as “gospel” that he hates what’s going on with the Netflix series, as he hates anything that isn’t his own work, apparently.
That being said, if he does have beef with the Netflix series, many would argue that it is justified. After all, from the beginning, the Netflix series has drawn the ire of diehard fans for certain things. But as the seasons went on, the biggest thing was that the show continually strayed from the source material, leading to many wondering why Netflix wasn’t following the books more.
Then, there was the Henry Cavill incident. He was brought into the series as Geralt of Rivia and crushed the role in many people’s minds. He was a huge fan of the series and was happy to hype it up. But then, out of the blue, he revealed he was leaving the show and role and would be replaced by Liam Hemsworth.
Many feel that the big changes to the show regarding the lore were the reason for his departure, but that hasn’t been confirmed.
