How Closely Is Netflix Adapting Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher Novels?

How much connection is the book and the movies going to share in the upcoming series?

The Witcher feels near like we can smell the stench of the Ghouls and the sound of the hoofbeat of 'Roach'. The Witcher is so near we can feel the monsters lurking in the dark, trembling with fear of the monster hunter. The release date is not announced yet, but fans are waiting with bated breath to know where the series will take the rich story of The Witcher.

One place we know the series won’t go is the games much to the ire of fans in the US. The games are popular in other countries as well, but The Witcher is better known outside of America for the book series from acclaimed writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

Source: Reddit

For Netflix, the series is helmed by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, and she was clear the series will not be focusing on the acclaimed CD Projekt RED. She made it apparent books are the only source material the series will be basing itself on.

During a round table discussion at the Comic-con Hissrich said, “Extreme long vision is no, we will not start adapting the games. I can only attack one season at a time; I’m so excited about this one, the rest kind of makes my mind explode right now. If someone says ‘what happens in Season 7,’ sure I have thoughts. Fingers crossed, we get there.”

Source: Flickriver

The Games are the continuation of the story of the Novel series. The games serve in a way a sequel to the book series and the series will deal the story continually. Whether the series reaches the point of adaptation of the game is to be seen, but as of this moment, Hissrich is going one story at a time.

Since the show is based on a book series, it means she really doesn’t need to plan out the series years ahead. She can focus on the here and now and not worry about the future of the series. The book series is long, so even if the Netflix show is a hit, it means the games will be adapted at a later date if they will ever happen.

Source: ComingSoon

There are already fans who found parallels between the books and the series just by looking at the trailer. Even if fans are not getting a game adaptation doesn’t mean the book adaptation won’t be a faithful one.

Just going by trailer the fans over on Reddit drew some comparisons of how faithfully the show is connected to the book.

One post wrote, “The Witcher smiled wryly — he knew what he looked like. After drinking a mixture of banewart, monk’s hood, and eyebright the face takes on the color of chalk, and the pupils fill the entire iris.” The quote is from the book The Last Wish. In the trailer, we can see Henry Cavill’s eyes with the pupils filling the iris and then smiling a wry smile.

Source: Netflix

Another post read, “From beneath an ash-blonde fringe, enormous emerald eyes — the predominant features in a small face with a narrow chin and upturned nose — stared out at her. There was fear in the eyes,” from Blood of Elves. The quote relates to 'Ciri' whose still from the series show emerald eyes and upturned nose and there appears to be fear in her eyes. The life of Ciri was not pretty, and the series might be ready to show the terrifying times of Ciri’s young life.

“Yennefer, although attractive in her own way, couldn’t pass as a great beauty... in actual fact, not many would describe sorceresses as good-looking... She had the figure of a twenty-year-old, although he preferred not to guess her real age. She moved with natural, unaffected grace.” The problem here is the appearance of Yennefer; she is not exactly as she is supposed to be in the books, but we think Anya is a great actress and she will do justice to the role of Yennefer.

Source: Netflix

“The black leather, hip-length jacket with long sleeves sparkling with silver studs... A round medallion hung on a silver chain around his neck... A wolf’s head with open jaws and armed with fangs was depicted on the medallion.” Henry isn’t exactly the type for 'Geralt', and there was a huge backlash after the announcement of Henry as the iconic character. Still, the series seems to be getting the look down for the character.

“But he suddenly knew the truth. He knew it. He knew what she used to be. What she remembered, what she couldn’t forget what she lived with. Who she really was before she had become a sorceress. Her cold, penetrating, angry and wise eyes were those of a hunchback.” The whole hunchback Yennefer using witch magic to cure herself and become beautiful is a little iffy at best, but the series is tackling the whole thing it seems.

Watch: The trailer for Netflix series The Witcher

The book is certainly a major influence on the series, and we hope the series will get to a point where they can adapt the games into the series. The Witcher is coming out this fall only on Netflix.