The Witcher Author Speaks Out About Netflix Series
It must be strange to see your life's work brought to life on the screen. Alan Moore famously hates the Watchmen movie and HBO series, Stephen King disliked the Jack Nicholson-led The Shining, and Roald Dahl wasn't a fan of Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka.
Now, The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski has passed judgement on Netflix's live-action adaptation. While the Polish author doesn't hate the fantasy series as much as all of the above, he's not exactly given The Witcher rave reviews.
What Has Andrzej Sapkowski Said About Netflix's The Witcher?
Sapkowski first created Geralt of Rivia for a competition held by Fantastyka magazine in 1986, with The Witcher soon spanning out into a series of books that started with Blood of Elves in 1994.
The Witcher hit the mainstream thanks to CD Projekt RED's game series of the same name was born from 2007's game. There have been three mainline games, with the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt being held as one of the greatest video games of all time.
Netflix's live-action series started off strong with Geralt actor Henry Cavill being a confessed superfan. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse, with Cavill leaving, the divisive casting of Liam Hemsworth, and accusations that the writers don't like the books.
As reported by Rednanian Intelligence, Sapkowski appeared at the Taipei International Book Exhibition 2023 this week to discuss all things The Witcher. When asked about what he thinks of the series, Sapkowski said, "I've seen better, I’ve seen worse."
It's not a scathing review of the series, but he's not exactly saying he's tuning in weekly. The problem is, while The Last of Us Game Director Neil Druckmann has been heavily involved with the HBO adaptation, Sapkowski has had nothing to do with The Witcher on Netflix.
What's Next For The Witcher?
Despite Cavill's imminent departure, Netflix has seemingly locked The Witcher in for a back-to-back Season 4 and 5. Sapkowski also has ambitions for where things could go next, telling fans, "They are in the plans," about the project of more books.
Sapkowski has repeatedly said The Lady of the Lake (released in 1999) is the definitive end of The Witcher story, meaning anything released now won't be a sequel.
Speaking at Warsaw Comic-Con in 2018, Sapkowski explained, "The story is complete, the saga has been concluded, so if by any chance I write something in The Witcher universe, and I sure have such intention, it would probably be something like a prequel or a sidequel. Not a sequel."
The Witcherverse is expanding in both live-action and video games. Alongside CDPR's new-gen remake of the first game, there's the co-op-led Project Sirius, long-rumoured The Witcher 4, and another Netflix series apparently based on the Rats.
Thankfully, more source material doesn't mean more series from Netflix. As we all know, the streaming giant isn't exactly known for sticking to Sapkowski's stories for inspiration.