The Witcher: News Update

We know changes are being made from the books in the adaptation (Henry Cavill can't help but repeatedly say "This is Lauren [Hissrich's] vision"), and producer Tomek Baginski promises those changes will pay off (which is to say, they've planned out what those changes will mean going forward). This comment isn't a surprise, but it's good to know the changes have been thought through (otherwise there's the danger of a butterfly effect of changes made--this hurt Game of Thrones considerably). It's interesting how much Cavill is putting the responsibility for the reception of the show on the shoulders of Hissrich--this suggests caution on his part (and a way to deflect blame if people are unhappy with the story).

Baginski (link above) talked about the comparison of The Witcher to Game of Thrones (I previously went over how originally this comparison was sought by those involved, but approaching release they have backed away from it):

What differentiates us [from GOT] is the presence of magic and humor. There’s not much of it in Game of Thrones. Magic is rather subtle there, while we use it heavily. It’s intertwined with the story and we’re doing our best not to make it into a gritty medieval drama. Sometimes there is humor, there are laughs, and I think it will be very much appreciated by both the book fans and new viewers. Beyond the narrative, it was also important for Netflix to create a world that looks different from what we have seen before. We really wanted to make sure that the show has a different look that won’t bounce off the games or previous shows but will offer something new that’s not ‘the Netflix’s Game of Thrones’. Our goal was to find something new and it took us a while, not gonna lie.

This desire to be distinctive is likely why we have so many Renaissance and other non-Medieval designs in the show and it sounds like that decision is an edict from Netflix rather than from the showrunner or producers themselves. The trailers, however, have emphasized the somber grittiness (the GOT tone) to the exclusion of all else, which is interesting. The two IP couldn't be more different as it is--GOT is firmly rooted in epic fantasy, whereas Sapkowski's series is similar to older (pre-Lord of the Rings) forms of fantasy, the a much looser narratives of Robert E. Howard's Conan mixed with the humour of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (I talked about this previously). In that sense, the two shows are already very different, so this differentiation is more about execs and marketers unfamiliar with the genre being concerned about fan confusion (the assumption being that the average viewer is extraordinarily dense).

TRI has offered a breakdown of the expected structure of the show and using it as a basis I've added my own thoughts. Before jumping right into that, I think looking at the chronology within the lore is useful, even though Sapkowski was vague with dates and there's no definitive timeline (CDPR created their own, which helps, but the show isn't bound by it). I think going through this is useful because the show will be split between past and present. Here's the consensus timeline (I've included sources in brackets):

1170 - Geralt is born (Sapkowski never says exactly when, but CDPR considered him to be about 100 for the games and could only have arrived at that idea by talking to him)
1173 - Yennefer is born (Tower of Swallow)
1187 - Hissrich said we'll see Yennefer at age 14
1218 - Hissrich said we'll see Yennefer at age 45
1229 - Dandelion is born (Tower of Swallow)
1250 - Hissrich said we'll see Yennefer at age 77
1252 - "The Question of Price"
1253 - Ciri is born (Blood of Elves and Time of Contempt); Sapkowski offers contradictions to this in several places, with the strongest being in The Lady of the Lake (where it's 1252), but since there's no definitive answer, most fans lean towards the date I've listed
1257 - Death of Ciri's parents
1262 - "The Sword of Destiny"
1263 - Battle of Marnadal/Fall of Cintra (timeframe of Blood of Elves); Battle of Sodden Hill
1264 - "Something More"

There's no guarantee the show will follow this chronology--they will almost certainly change some of it. How much, in story terms, isn't particularly important, it's just the interrelation which might hint at the framing of the narrative. Below is the TRI structure with my own additions marked in blue.

Structure

Episode One
Source material (SM): "The Lesser Evil" (TLW) and flashbacks from Blood of Elves
Geralt's adventures will be in the past, while Ciri's are in the present; TRI doesn't believe we'll see Yennefer in this episode, but this assumption is incorrect as Henry Cavill says the show begins with all three perspectives (which makes sense when you have three protagonists). In the books, Geralt's adventure occurs quite early and its relationship to the 'present' of Ciri's 1263 isn't that important.
Episode Two
SM: "The Edge of the World" (TLW), Ciri flashbacks from The Tower of Swallow, Blood of Elves, and possibly "The Sword of Destiny" (SOD), and Yennefer's flashbacks from The Tower of Swallow
Geralt's adventures continue to be in the past (I thought this would be our introduction to Jaskier, but it seems as though he'll appear earlier), and Yennefer's will presumably continue in the past, while Ciri's in the present
Episode Three
SM: "The Witcher" (TLW), Yennefer flashbacks from The Tower of Swallow
Geralt and Yennefer continue to be in the past (Jaskier being inserted into Geralt's story and Istredd into Yennefer's); TRI doesn't include anything for Ciri, but I suspect the aforementioned content will continue
Episode Four
SM: "A Question of Price" (TLW), "The Sword of Destiny" (SOD), Yennefer's invented story with Queen Kalis
Geralt and Yennefer continue in the past and Ciri in the present; it's not clear if Geralt will appear in Ciri's timeline as well (as he does in the story)
Episode Five
SM: "The Last Wish" (TLW)
Geralt and Yennefer meet in the past (we know the show isn't having their first meeting echo the short story--that they will meet beforehand--but it's not clear if that's in the previous episode or here); TRI lists nothing for Ciri, but her journey in the present likely continues
Episode Six
SM: "The Bounds of Reason" (SOD)
Once again Geralt and Yennefer in the past--in the books they hadn't seen each other in four years (from the relationship that started in "The Last Wish"), but it's not clear if that gap will be echoed here; nothing is listed for Ciri, but her journey in the present likely continues
Episode Seven
SM: "Something More" (SOD)
Geralt's timeline catches up to the beginning of Ciri's (specifically her's in the first episode); TRI lists nothing else, but again I suspect Ciri's adventures will continue, while Yennefer is likely doing something associated with the upcoming Battle of Sodden
Episode Eight
SM: "Something More" (SOD) and the Battle of Sodden
Past and present meet and all three titular characters will be united for the first time in the present of 1263

The simplest way to think about it: all three characters are in different time periods at the start (Cavill, link above, implied it's a bit confusing in the beginning), with Yennefer presumably spending more time in the distant past than Geralt initially. Yen will 'catch-up' with Geralt in either episode four or five, with the two of them 'catching-up' with Ciri (and the present) in the seventh or eighth episode.

One reason for so little Season of Storms material above is that the book wasn't available in English until May, 2018, well after the arc of the season and the first scripts were written.

Cavill says he found Geralt's voice in January (filming began at the end of October)--his approach cut a lot of dialogue that was originally written--what suggests Cavill made Geralt more like the video games (CDPR-version), while Hissrich had originally written him much more like the talkative book-version.

Reading between the lines, Tomek Baginski indicates that the reason the pilot was re-shot was because they were unhappy with it. Cavill (link above) talks about completely re-envisioning the key sword fights of the pilot, although most (if not all) the episode would have had to be re-shot given the cast changes made.

When The Witcher was renewed for a second season, I mentioned that this had less to do with the perceived quality of the show and more about the cost of producing it (another season helps recoup investment). Since then Amazon's The Lord of the Rings prequel (which hasn't even started filming yet) was renewed (the horrendous Shannara Chronicles even got a second season), illustrating how common renewal is for these kinds of productions (it's likely for The Wheel of Time no matter how it's received). We can hope a second season for The Witcher is warranted, but the renewal by itself doesn't reveal anything.

I wanted to briefly touch on Netflix viewership, since it's impossible to verify (the Nielsen ratings, which has its own problems, can help clarify it when available). Netflix has a vested interest in skewing results for its own purposes (such as planting stories about poor ratings to justify cancellations, or pushing positive narratives for expensive failures like Bright--something else so expensive its getting a sequel). Gauging the success of the show will likely come down to how much buzz is produced--how much secondary content and chatter it creates.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)