The story of Geralt of Rivia has already been told in books and a hugely popular game, but now it’s coming to the small screen
On the 20th December 2019, Netflix will be releasing their latest blockbuster streaming show based on the books of Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher.
The books, which follow the character Geralt of Rivia, a titular Witcher, as he hunts monsters in a friendly Eastern European styled medieval world, are fantastic in their own right, but they are arguably most famous for having been the basis for the Witcher series of games, released by CD Projekt Red.
The game itself is widely hailed (entirely correctly so) as the magnum opus of the video game RPG world, inspiring millions of gamers to plough hundreds of hours each into exploring the world in which Geralt lives.
The adoration the game inspires has already caused a little friction around the show, with fans unhappy about the way that lead actor Henry Cavill appeared in early images from set, criticizing his admittedly bad wig and the actor’s physical dissimilarity to the Geralt featured in the game.
A Third Telling of the Same Tale
One indication that the show might veer away from the story, style, and aesthetic of the games is the fact that the original author, Andrzej Sapkowski, is reportedly very pleased with the direction it is going and his position as a creative consultant for the series.
Sapkowski has become famous in recent years for his dislike of the CD Projekt Red games and his rather wild claims that his books made the games popular outside of his native Poland.
It’s unclear how much of Sapkowski’s so-called dislike for the games has more to do with the $16.11 million he is now demanding from the developer, despite initially refusing a cut of the profits and demanding a lump sum in return for the rights to his IP.
Showrunner Lauren Hissrich has also made it pretty clear that she regards the show to be a third telling of the same tale, drawing from the book and potentially from the game, without being particularly similar to either of them.
There is also a clear emphasis on making the show accessible for new watchers who have never read the books or played the game.
In an interview with French magazine Premiere, she reported that:
“We didn’t imagine our show book after book. And that’s exciting. We have a particular approach to The Witcher, relatively unexpected I think. Like the fact that Geralt and Ciri meet already in the first season… We wanted to have a fresh look at this story.”.”
The showrunners have already confirmed that The Witcher will not shy away from the dominant themes of the game and the book, such as racism, sexism, and moral and physical violence
A Divergent Style and Story
The reality is that transforming a video game into a TV show or film is normally a recipe for disaster. Does anyone remember the Mario movie or Mortal Combat?
Hissrich and production designer Andrew Lars has taken the sensible step to move away from what made the interactive version of the Witcher so good and create something that actually works as a show, rather than bend the game into an overly long “lets play.”
The main aim of the TV show will most likely be to move the plot, which seems to quite closely reflect the story set out in the game, forward. It seems unlikely that we’ll see Geralt breaking off from his adventures to indulge in some recreational boxing, collecting “romance cards” or arguing the odds of winning a horse race with a local bookmaker.
While this will disappoint some fans of the game, the creators of the show can be applauded for being open about their desire not to just ape the games, with Andrew Lars pointing out that “It was important for the show to keep an authentic style, a superb video game already exists, and I clearly didn’t want our show to look like it.”
With good acting talent, clearly impassioned creators, and the usual huge Netflix budget, The Witcher looks like it has every chance of being an excellent third way of relating Sapkowski’s works to a larger audience.
What remains to be seen is whether the showrunners can make the show sufficient, separate from the video game titan that spawned it, without losing what made the game so popular in the first place.
