Netflix’s The Witcher is specifically an adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books and not the CD Projekt Red video games. Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, however, who’s written both The Umbrella Academy and Daredevil for the streaming giant and is the series’ executive producer has promised that fans of the games will still find plenty to love in this episodic representation of the stories and characters.
Of course, all three console titles have been hugely successful and follow the plot laid out by the series of eight books from the Polish author, which revolve around Geralt of Rivia, a being with supernatural powers that he uses to hunt monsters. Speaking at Comic-Con this past weekend, Hissrich reassured anyone whose entry point to the fantasy medieval world is the games and not the novels that they’re still “going to love the show.”
“I’ve played the games, but really our stories are coming from the book. […] Will the television show be for game fans as well? I absolutely think so. If you think about how adaptations work, the games are adaptations of the same source material that we’re using. If you come to the games and love the characters and love the kinds of stories that you find there, I think you’re going to love the show too.”
While we already knew the series would remain faithful to the original source material, this is great news for fans of the games, an audience that’s likely larger than those whose entry point into this universe were the books. And so far, everything we’ve seen of the upcoming adaptation truly does look fantastic.
As such, we’re pretty darn excited to witness Henry Cavill pick up arms as Geralt of Rivia, as while CD Projekt Red’s video games may have helped launch The Witcher into the mainstream, there’s a real possibility that this upcoming Netflix show will introduce Geralt and Co. to a worldwide audience, one who isn’t yet familiar with the property, but is about to fall in love with it.