Tomek Bagiński, the executive producer for Netflix’s The Witcher, says they could not adapt all of the first book into season one.
Adapting books to screen is always a tricky business. Trying to find the right balance between faithfulness to the source material and what will work well on screen is no easy task.
The Witcher adaptation for Netflix is one of the next big adaptations and executive producer Tomek Bagiński has spoken to ComicBook.com about the process of translating the books to screen, revealing that they simply could not fit all of the first book into season one:
“Actually the books were a lot more source material than we could fit into eight episodes so we have to really be very, very careful with choosing which stories we want to tell. And Lauren [S. Hissrich, showrunner,] did a really great job. Not only choosing the right stories to tell the story of Geralt, but also by giving some background both to Yennefer and to Ciri. Because for us the goal was always tell a bigger story. A bigger story comes up first with the saga, and the saga there is not only about Geralt and his friends, it’s also about Yennefer, it’s also about Ciri, and we knew that we have to build those characters earlier.”
SEE ALSO: Henry Cavill compares his version of Geralt of Rivia to a blend of Superman and Batman
It will be interesting to see how fans of the books respond to the show and how faithful to the source material the series ends up being. Its December 20 release date is just around the corner.
Based on the best-selling fantasy series of books, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer and Freya Allan as Ciri. Other cast members include Jodhi May, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Adam Levy, MyAnna Buring, Mimi Ndiweni, Therica Wilson-Read, Emma Appleton, Eamon Farren, Joey Batey, Lars Mikkelsen, Royce Pierreson, Maciej Musiał, Wilson Radjou-Pujalte, and Anna Shaffer.
