The Witcher Season 2: This adaptation project is a real challenge for Netflix

News culture The Witcher Season 2: This adaptation project is a real challenge for Netflix

The importance of the original material

Early fans swear by books. Whether in The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, moving the smallest comma can unleash the anger of an entire community. The Witcher series dares to modify certain events, change their chronology, and even touch several main characters while relying on the novels.

What is really interesting is that I keep coming back to Andrzej Sapkowski’s books as inspiration for the series. Andrzej and I have been in touch for 4 years since I was hired on Netflix. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

The authors pay great respect to Andrzej Sapkowski’s literary work. The novels serve as a structure, as the backbone of the narrative framework. Even if the series produced by Netflix sometimes deliberately, often out of necessity, moves away from books, it retains its essence, its DNA.

I’m trying to make sure we stay in the tone of the books, in the spirit of the books. That’s the only thing Andrzej Sapkowski asked me to do when I started adapting them. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

The actors themselves often return to the material, which spawned a heroic-fantasy universe as rich as it is intriguing. The latter has not seduced millions of readers, players and ultimately viewers for nothing. From Geralt to the Princess of Cintra to Yennefer and the many supporting characters, all of them without exception worked through one or more novels by the Polish author in order to discover their role and soak up the special atmosphere of this fantasy world.

When I got the role, I started reading (the books) because Nivellen’s story is based on a novel. I read A Grain of Truth and bought all the books. I’ll do that for Christmas. I bought the games too. I should have played them before talking to you, but they’re done downstairs. I look forward to it. – Kristofer Hivju (actor – Nivellen)

The specifics of the literary saga

We have to admit that The Witcher stands out from other great works of heroic fantasy. Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones are undoubtedly cornerstones of the genre. The comparison with the adventures of the witcher is inevitable. The three franchises quoted share a keen sense of the epic. It is obvious. But they differ in their approach to fantasy. The Lord of the Rings is a choral saga. Game of Thrones primarily focuses on political intrigue. What about The Witcher in all of this? Producer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich explains to us.

I think The Witcher stands out for its humorous aspect. He doesn’t take himself seriously. He can be very funny. It can be pretty ironic. It’s not something that is often found in the imagination. The very nature of fantasy is to be a lens that mirrors the real world. Because of this, fantasy deals with real world problems and often life and death issues. She’s getting very serious. We want to think about the same topics in The Witcher, but we really focus on the characters and how they behave with one another. There is a lot of humor, a lot of joy and a lot of emotions. We never want politics or fighting to take precedence over these elements. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

The Witcher is neither Lord of the Rings nor Game of Thrones and especially all the other legends that have fueled heroic fantasy for decades. The Netflix series must remain true to the original material, respecting its substance, tone and spirit, even if it has to be free in order to better flourish.

A narrative and creative dance

A book is one thing, a series is another. It sounds like common sense, but this simple fact is well worth remembering. Transferring an adventure born on paper to a small screen requires a lot of modifications. These decisions are not made to offend the fans but, on the contrary, to preserve what is the salt of the literary series without becoming a clone in the live action. Writer Andrzej Sapkowski even encourages screenwriters to reinvent The Witcher, to appropriate and enrich the universe. It is not for nothing that the events of the series mirror those of the books and go a different way, their own way.

Andrzej (Sapkowski) has a very special point of view on the processing of his material. It has to allow the creators of these projects, be it video games, comics or TV series, … the books remain. Nothing I do or anyone else does can change that. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

The Witcher franchise undoubtedly moves away from novels and takes enormous liberties. We’ll come back to some of the differences that make the show a work of its own a little later. Netflix has turned the literary saga on its head and as a result made several decisions that could upset fans. However, according to Norwegian actor Kristofer Hivju (Nivellen in the season two premiere), the only viable option was to disrupt the lore. The reason given is unstoppable.

When you take books and turn them into a television series, there is a dance between the creator and the author of the books. You have to follow the books, but at some point you have to do something else or everyone knows what’s going to happen. – Kristofer Hivju (actor – Nivellen)

The big differences from the literary saga

We won’t go into any more detail about season 1 of The Witcher. In many ways, the first 8 episodes emancipate themselves from the novels. The first difference lies in the narrative structure, which in 2019 pushes several storylines from different eras at the same time. The new series of episodes changes the game and maintains the linearity of the books. Incidentally, the story told in Le Sang des Elfes – the third novel – takes an unexpected turn. The script reinterprets the highlights of the story, combining others and keeping intact what needs to be. The Witcher range is definitely picking up speed.

We try to take the audience on an exciting journey that will be a little different on television than when reading a novel. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

Some characters present themselves in a different light. The changes are sometimes minor and sometimes consistent. We could quote the magician Yennefer, whose audiovisual fate differs from that of the literary, or the magician Rience, whose introduction, powers, and even iconic scenes change dramatically. Cirilla, played by Freya Allan, perfectly symbolizes the mindset of the series on this point.

When I got the role, I immediately read Blood of the Elves and other content. (…) I remember reading the novels I got a very good idea of ​​who Ciri was. But at the same time I play her a little older, so there are some things that cannot flow into her physicality that characterize her in the books. (…) There are some things that you need to change, but I have a feeling that Ciri’s heart really got carried over to the scripts so this is my Bible. – Freya Allan (actress – Ciri)

A rapidly expanding universe

Season 3 of The Witcher was formalized during the WitcherCon in the summer of 2021. This is not surprising. Netflix wants to capitalize on a universe of endless possibilities. The saga also allows itself to expand on certain parts of the story that the Polish author left fallow. I’m thinking in particular of Vesemir’s past, brought to life in the animated film The Wolf’s Nightmare, but also of the first sorcerer in the Blood Origin series, whose filming recently ended. What about the universe that CD Projekt RED built in video games? Spoiler alert! Netflix has decided.

I don’t think so. Video games are also an adaptation of books. I feel like if we started adapting the video games that the books adapted, we would be in a strange whirlwind of adaptations. The games do what they can incredibly well, and I don’t have to walk in their flower beds at all. I prefer to stick with our stories and books. – Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (producer)

Netflix is ​​definitely keeping its Game of Thrones. The Witcher adventure is still in its infancy. Faith by Geralt de Riv.

• All information about The Witcher – Season 2 series on alloCiné.