The Witcher (Netflix)

[Clertar]

So this is happening. Ever since it was announced they would produce it, I've been very excited about it.

Spoiler

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[Giggling Ghast]

Not a Witcher fan, but I feel like sharing this (partial) quote from Reddit might pre-emptively shut down an inevitable argument.

IN THE BOOKS HE ONLY CARRIES ONE SWORD AND HE KEEPS THE OTHER ON ROACH.

[Morty]

Not a Witcher fan, but I feel like sharing this (partial) quote from Reddit might pre-emptively shut down an inevitable argument.

IN THE BOOKS HE ONLY CARRIES ONE SWORD AND HE KEEPS THE OTHER ON ROACH.

Might be useful to also make it clear that he has no beard and wears a studded leather jacket and not armor in the books.

[Keltest]

Not a Witcher fan, but I feel like sharing this (partial) quote from Reddit might pre-emptively shut down an inevitable argument.

IN THE BOOKS HE ONLY CARRIES ONE SWORD AND HE KEEPS THE OTHER ON ROACH.

That's not entirely true. Geralt will carry both swords if he wants to advertise as a witcher or if he's wandering around an area without Roach. If he's specifically preparing for a fight, he will only carry what he thinks he will need or want.

[Giggling Ghast]

That's not entirely true. Geralt will carry both swords if he wants to advertise as a witcher or if he's wandering around an area without Roach. If he's specifically preparing for a fight, he will only carry what he thinks he will need or want.

Regardless, the comment is intended to shut down the inevitable “But in the games he carries two SWOOOOOOOORRRRDSSSS” bellyaching.

[Keltest]

Regardless, the comment is intended to shut down the inevitable “But in the games he carries two SWOOOOOOOORRRRDSSSS” bellyaching.

A witcher's two swords are iconic, even in universe. Its a small thing, but I don't think its unreasonable either.

[Giggling Ghast]

And look at that: an argument happened anyway. Sorry, OP. I’ll bow out now.

[Eldan]

There have been other screenshots around and my first thought is that I find it quite sad how... Hollywood medieval the costumes look. By which I mean everything is black and grey, rarely brown. I know bringing up the game is wrong, but at least they made sure everyone wore some proper colour.

[GloatingSwine]

I know they've shown Nilfgaardian soldiers.

Who are supposed to wear black. It's kind of their thing. Black with a gold/yellow sun design.

[Lemmy]

I will give it a try, but I'm not optimistic. Netflix adaptations don't exactly have a stellar track record.

Henry Cavil at least looks pretty ok. The rest of the cast... Not so much.

[Morty]

Honestly, I'm glad that they're trying to give Geralt his own look in this show, rather than try to imitate the games. We'll see how it works out for them, but they need to succeed or fail in their own style. Yennefer looks pretty good as well. And the logo being a combination of a wolf, a swallow and a star is pretty clever.

[Clertar]

I will give it a try, but I'm not optimistic. Netflix adaptations don't exactly have a stellar track record.

Henry Cavil at least looks pretty ok. The rest of the cast... Not so much.

I was pretty happy with how The Umbrella Academy turned out.

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For people who know the witcher world from the games, the literary universe is a little different, and especially Geralt. It's quite subversive of fantasy literature clichés, especially considering when the first books were written in the 1990s, with the preceding short stories from the 1980s. Geralt is not the stoic silent character that he seems to be in the games, he's like a Philip Marlow hardboiled character that emotes a lot, cracking sarcastic jokes and going off on rants more often than not. Yennefer and Jaskier easily surpass Geralt on both counts.

Has someone in this thread not read the novel series? If so, I'd really pitch them to you. If you haven't read Sapkowski you're quite simply missing out. I would easily skip The Last Wish (it has just witcher-establishing stories) and start with The Sword of Destiny, where Sapkowski starts bringing out the big epic and emotional guns. We get Ciri introduced there and Yennefer's dynamic with Geralt it also established. But you know nothing until you start Blood of Elves.

I had read the whole series by the time the first tales appeared translated into English (perks of not being an anglophone), and have read it a couple of times since. A few years ago we also got the treat of a prequel-ish standalone-ish novel, Season of Storms. Even though I consider Sapkowski's Hussite trilogy quite superior to the Witcher series, these books have been a source of immense literary pleasure

[Psyren]

I will give it a try, but I'm not optimistic. Netflix adaptations don't exactly have a stellar track record.

For anime I agree with you, but for video games? They have one of the few decent ones like, ever.

I've never managed to finish any of the Witcher titles so I'll be going into this cold. The aggressive heterosexuality isn't really my thing but I'll give almost anything fantasy-oriented a go.

[Eldan]

For anime I agree with you, but for video games? They have one of the few decent ones like, ever.

I've never managed to finish any of the Witcher titles so I'll be going into this cold. The aggressive heterosexuality isn't really my thing but I'll give almost anything fantasy-oriented a go.

Love Death and Robots also had decent adaptations of some shortstories I like a lot.

[Clertar]

The trailer looks really good to me. I'm allowing myself to be less and less worried about this adaptation.

Spoiler

Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSqi-8kAMmM

[Keltest]

Cavill as Geralt is starting to grow on me. It looks like he learned to sneer properly, and he at least sounds like Geralt could sound.

[JadedDM]

As someone who has neither read the books or played the video games, it at least looks worth a watch to me, so far.

[Morty]

I won't lie, this looks kind of... painfully generic. A "just another fantasy TV show" sort of feeling. Then again, it's meant to hook people who don't know anything about the stories or the games, so maybe that's on purpose. I do like how we're apparently going to see Yennefer's backstory, though.

[Cen]

First trailer looks like pretty generic, GoT style action fatasy.. quite meh to be honest. But the second one... the leaked one... man that is glorious!

Here's the one I'm talking about
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...fEU0MCnPp8HSzI

[Hopeless]

First trailer looks like pretty generic, GoT style action fatasy.. quite meh to be honest. But the second one... the leaked one... man that is glorious!

Here's the one I'm talking about
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...fEU0MCnPp8HSzI

Wait a sec isn't that the polish version rather than the Netflix version?

[Brother Oni]

Wait a sec isn't that the polish version rather than the Netflix version?

Yup, sometimes known by its German name, Die Hexer: IMDB link.

[Kitten Champion]

Cavill as Geralt is starting to grow on me. It looks like he learned to sneer properly, and he at least sounds like Geralt could sound.

I gave Cavill the benefit of the doubt after Snyder's DC movies because most of everyone there came off as glassy-eyed wooden planks. Then I saw him give a wince-worthy performance in Mission Impossible: Fallout, and came to the conclusion that while he's pretty handsome in an old school Hollywood kind of way... he's just not that good of an actor.

[oudeis]

A lot of actors have troubling emoting when they are trying to hold an accent, especially one as flat as generic American. It's worth mentioning that Zach Snyder is a terrible director who is far more interested in his Randian ideological self-masturbation than actually, you know, telling a compelling story with relatable characters, so Cavill's stint in the tights might not be the best indicator of what he can do.

[Cen]

Wait a sec isn't that the polish version rather than the Netflix version?

Yeah it is... i thought i was finnyand someone would believe me.
Still I'd rather recommend watching it -its in so bad it's good category, and Michal Zebrowsky looks more like Geralt than Cavill ever will.

[Jaryn]

I suspect I'll probably watch it, but the trailer made me think it is trying to be the next Game of Thrones. To me, the Witcher series has quite a different feel from that one.

[Brother Oni]

I suspect I'll probably watch it, but the trailer made me think it is trying to be the next Game of Thrones. To me, the Witcher series has quite a different feel from that one.

Depends on which period of the stories the series will cover. Since it mentions 'the girl' and Yennifer's early life, it sounds like the early stories and the war (Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish).

Unfortunately these days, anything involving any sort of political intrigue and a vaguely medieval setting will draw comparison to Game of Thrones (I've seen comments comparing The Last Kingdom to Game of Thrones, despite the former being a historical fiction of the Saxon/Dane war of the 9th Century).

[Clertar]

Depends on which period of the stories the series will cover. Since it mentions 'the girl' and Yennifer's early life, it sounds like the early stories and the war (Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish).

Unfortunately these days, anything involving any sort of political intrigue and a vaguely medieval setting will draw comparison to Game of Thrones (I've seen comments comparing The Last Kingdom to Game of Thrones, despite the former being a historical fiction of the Saxon/Dane war of the 9th Century).

We'll probably get an abridged version of some Geralt monster-hunting episode from Last Wish, and then jump to The Sword of Destiny. I guess this is necessary since The Blood of Elves follows up on it and doesn't introduce who Ciri is, or the Nilfgaardian invasion.

[Kitten Champion]

Depends on which period of the stories the series will cover. Since it mentions 'the girl' and Yennifer's early life, it sounds like the early stories and the war (Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish).

Unfortunately these days, anything involving any sort of political intrigue and a vaguely medieval setting will draw comparison to Game of Thrones (I've seen comments comparing The Last Kingdom to Game of Thrones, despite the former being a historical fiction of the Saxon/Dane war of the 9th Century).

I'm certain that's the comparison these productions really want you to make though and probably why darker historical fiction like The Last Kingdom, Knightfall, or Vikings came be greenlit in the first place.

Hell, even The Expanse was advertised here with "It's Game of Thrones in Space!" or something similar.

[Giggling Ghast]

If this is indicative of what the series will be like, I think it’s very disappointing. Geralt didn’t challenge one random NPC to Gwent.

[Tajerio]

My hopes, which weren't high, have been set to minimum after that trailer. Looks devoid of inspiration.