TV: Witcher TV Series

[The Macho King]

I mean, that's more or less what the books are like. It's not trying to be GoT but if you go in expecting it to be like the video games it's not. The first two books in short story form are all Geralt, and actually the final book is a throwback long form story that's all Geralt, but the main story in between is a lot more focused story than GoT but still a mixed bag of characters and Geralt really doesn't get a lot of Witcher-ing done.

Watching season two the show actually seems to be moving away from the books to have more Geralt and more monster slaying.

Yeah and that's probably why I hate the books outside of the short stories.

 

[RandV]

Yeah and that's probably why I hate the books outside of the short stories.

In that case if you haven't consider having a look at book 8, Season of Storms. It's a long form prequel placed just before the Temeria/vampire princess bit that's all Geralt and most similar to the video games.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

I’m late to the party here, but I almost feel like I’m enjoying the show less because I played the video games. Does anyone else feel that way?

I can’t break my view of how certain characters should be, so I feel less immersed. I also feel like the show sometimes does a really poor job of explaining where certain characters came from or who they are.

I’m going to keep watching - I like Gerald and the overall world too much not to - but the show is a little disappointing for me.

 

[RobBrown4PM]

I’m late to the party here, but I almost feel like I’m enjoying the show less because I played the video games. Does anyone else feel that way?

I can’t break my view of how certain characters should be, so I feel less immersed. I also feel like the show sometimes does a really poor job of explaining where certain characters came from or who they are.

I’m going to keep watching - I like Gerald and the overall world too much not to - but the show is a little disappointing for me.

The games are very different from the books, which is what the show is based on. However, like a lot of series switching mediums, it's different than the source material in some ways.

 

[NyQuil]

The games are very different from the books, which is what the show is based on. However, like a lot of series switching mediums, it's different than the source material in some ways.

The game would translate dismally to the small screen.

Side quests anyone?

Have a gander at how many hours you played Witcher 3 on your Steam app.

 

[Osprey]

I'm even later to the party, but finally got to Season 2 and was pretty disappointed. For context, I haven't read the books or played anything but the first game (which the series doesn't seem to draw much from).

I mostly liked the first two episodes, but I slowly lost my interest starting with Episode 3 and was really bored by the last few episodes. The main thing is that the season felt like it was more about Ciri and Yennefer than the character that the series is named after. The story revolved around them and they had all of the character development while Geralt was almost a bystander. He had half a dozen brief action scenes, but, otherwise, just stood around and pouted. I couldn't figure out what his problem was half the time, either. For example, he chose to protect Ciri, yet acted like she was a burden or something.

The overall story didn't interest me. I didn't care what Ciri wanted to be or what she would be. A coming of age drama isn't really what I was after. She looked silly training to be a 5-foot witcher before dropping it like it was just a phase in order to pursue magic. The elf/human tension was somewhat interesting, but there was far too much of it for it to amount to as little as it did. Even the climactic reveal fell totally flat with me, and I'm seemingly one of the few to whom that was supposed to be a surprise. Also, there was hardly any adventure. Most of the season took place indoors at a few different locations and, when they needed to travel between them, they either literally teleported or may as well have because it took no time to arrive. Small world. The sets did look really nice and they got their money's worth out of them, but I also got tired of them, particularly Kaer Morhen, which would've been fine as a major location for an episode or two, but not five or six. Lastly, this is the least of my issues, but I found all of the modern swearing jarring. It felt out of place and like lazy writing.

Anyways, I wouldn't say that I hated it, but I certainly lost interest in it as it went along and ended up pretty disappointed. I didn't even have high expectations. I just hoped to enjoy it like Season 1, especially after the last three seasons that I watched (Wheel of Time, The Expanse S6 and The Book of Boba Fett) were all disappointing. There's been a lot of content put out recently that's fallen rather short of its potential, IMO.

 

[AlanHUK]

I think there was a lot of potential with the season that was wasted, and it relies on the audience having some knowledge of things from the books or to a lesser extend games to fill in gaps.

I also agree on the cursing to an extent, one example of it just stands out a mile "fire f**ker"

 

[Jussi]

 

[Loopy0ne]

a show that was already failing the books has lost geralt :/

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

As a big Witcher fan, it's disappointing how much they dropped the ball so far.

Show had some great highlights, but too many low lights. I read an article recently where a lot of the writers for the show made fun of the source material.

And now they lost their gift of an A list superfan actor who treated it like a passion project.

There's a great show to be made out of this material. It's just a damn shame that apparently this iteration won't be it.

 

[Osprey]

I liked the first season, but was pretty disappointed with the second. It felt like it sidelined its own title character and was more about Ciri and Yennifer. I wonder if that disappointed Cavill, as well, and played a role in his decision.

 

[CartographerNo611]

I liked the first season, but was pretty disappointed with the second. It felt like it sidelined its own title character and was more about Ciri and Yennifer. I wonder if that disappointed Cavill, as well, and played a role in his decision.

Only the 2 short stories books focus on Geralt. The novels focus a lot more on Ciri so the show is pretty in line with the source material atleast in that regard lol.

 

[AlanHUK]

season 2 did drift even further from the source material, and considering how big a fan of the books and games Cavill is him not continuing doesn't surprise me, the fact that he's back to playing Superman as well probably just sealed his departure.


I've still not fully rewatched the second season, and I'd be curious to see what viewership for it was like in general compared to the first.

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

The Witcher material seems ripe for a monster of the week style. Maybe not necessarily 1 per episode but 1 every couple episodes would've been a great intro to the character.

Maybe save the bigger overarching story until the show got solid footing.

 

[Mario_is_BACK!!]

 

[beowulf]

Sad he is going but I am sure the biggest reason for his departure is his return as Superman and the time that will take up.

 

[Osprey]

Sad he is going but I am sure the biggest reason for his departure is his return as Superman and the time that will take up.

That's no doubt a big part of it, but you don't leave a girlfriend that you love just because an ex becomes available. There have to be some issues with your relationship to encourage you to leave for something better.

 

[tacogeoff]

That's no doubt a big part of it, but you don't leave a girlfriend that you love just because an ex becomes available. There have to be some issues with your relationship to encourage you to leave for something better.

or a massive pay raise.

 

[I am not exposed]

I liked the first season, but was pretty disappointed with the second. It felt like it sidelined its own title character and was more about Ciri and Yennifer. I wonder if that disappointed Cavill, as well, and played a role in his decision.

I only got to about the 4th episode of season 2. Just completely lost interest. I liked the first season as well. Enough to want to watch the second season. Just really disappointing.

 

[codswallop]

season 2 did drift even further from the source material, and considering how big a fan of the books and games Cavill is him not continuing doesn't surprise me, the fact that he's back to playing Superman as well probably just sealed his departure.


I've still not fully rewatched the second season, and I'd be curious to see what viewership for it was like in general compared to the first.

And it probably didn't help that apparently some of the writers on the show hated and/or mocked the source material.

It's much more of a surprise these days when a show is actually well written (and respectful of the source if it comes from an established property).

 

[AlanHUK]

And it probably didn't help that apparently some of the writers on the show hated and/or mocked the source material.

It's much more of a surprise these days when a show is actually well written (and respectful of the source if it comes from an established property).

Yeah it was one of the writers who left the show that revealed it

"I've been on show - namely Witcher - where some of the writers were not or actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material)," DeMayo explained. "It's a recipe for disaster and bad morale. Fandom as a litmus test checks egos, and makes all the long nights worth it. You have to respect the work before you're allowed to add to its legacy."

Netflix's The Witcher: Former Producer Claims Some Writers 'Actively Disliked the Books and Games' - IGN

Beau DeMayo, a former producer and writer on The Witcher, has claimed that some writers on the Netflix series "actively disliked" Andrzej Sapkowski's books and CD Projekt Red's games.

www.ign.com

Hopefully Cavill managed to get his way getting season 3 to go back to the source material, but with him going i don't have high hopes of that

 

[Speyer]

The show won't survive this. I would bet my live savings that the cancellation is incoming after season 4. Netflix should just call it quits and save the production money for other projects.

 

[LarKing]

Netflix’s shows have really been bad these days. Hopefully someone like HBO picks it up down the line and does it justice.

 

[barriers]

The show won't survive this. I would bet my live savings that the cancellation is incoming after season 4. Netflix should just call it quits and save the production money for other projects.

Pretty much this. Unless season 3 gets some great reviews I won't even bother watching that at this point, much less a season 4.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

This will be the dumbest thing posted in this thread, but when HC would say “ah f***”, it always made me laugh.

I doubt any actor will make it sound as seriously funny as he did in The Witcher.