Having stolen the show at TUDUM by revealing a ton of new footage and confirming three new projects for Netflix, The Witcher was one of social media’s main talking points last night. For the most part, fans couldn’t be more thrilled about getting to spend even more time on the Continent, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some dissension in the ranks.
Without a doubt, executive producer and architect of the entire Witcher universe Lauren Schmidt Hissrich announcing that a new series aimed at children and families is on the way came as a shock. After all, the mythology is famed for its darkness, violence and unflinching brutality, so it’s difficult to imagine how something as grim and gritty as the fantasy franchise would work in a watered-down environment.
As you can see below, the fanbase isn’t even waiting for an answer, having already decided that the family-friendly Witcher project is an abomination that shows corporate greed as its finest while displaying a completely fundamental lack of understanding for what made it so popular in the first place.
We should give Netflix and Schmidt Hissrich the benefit of the doubt for now, but it’s certainly an intriguing creative conundrum nonetheless. There’s no reason why kids couldn’t enjoy a Witcher show set in the same place where Henry Cavill routinely bludgeons monsters into a bloody pulp, but there’s already been an element of gatekeeping to some of the early responses that isn’t going to go away.