OK. I don’t know if I can approve of a Witcher TV series. It’s not because of the producer…
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich will adapt fantasy saga “The Witcher” into a series for Netflix, Variety has learned.
Like the stories on which it is based, Netflix’s “The Witcher” chronicles monster hunters who, with training and body modification, develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly beasts. Hissrich will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Her writing and co-executive producer credits include Marvel-produced superhero dramas “The Defenders” and “Daredevil” for Netflix and Starz’s “Power.” She is represented by UTA.
…it’s because of the setting. And the impossibility of getting the ‘right’ Geralt, because — and I am truly apologetic for having to say this — Doug Cockle looks nothing like Geralt of Rivia, which is a problem, because hearing anybody else saying Geralt’s lines promises to drive me up a wall. But it’s mostly the setting. The Northern Kingdoms are, well, awful places to be, and very few of the people responsible for that get held accountable for it. CD Projekt Red doesn’t really care about how easily-offended people feel about that, because they’re a Polish gaming company whose country ran out of [expletive deleted] to give some time around 1945. But does Netflix?
Yeah, yeah, I know: “Game of Thrones.” But GoT ain’t over yet, and I keep hearing grumblings that they’re going to give the series a happy ending. Which, apparently, would be a giant middle finger to the George RR Martin who started the whole series in the first place. Which is funny; but it wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it happens to an intellectual property that I actually like.
Moe Lane
PS: Of course I’m going to watch a Witcher series anyway. Duh.