# Netflix working on 'The Witcher' series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, netflix\ **Created:** [May 17, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873 "2017-05-17T21:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/21 "2019-07-02T06:57:42Z")
They looks like a cross-section of the Witcher fan base. Why shouldn’t they write the series? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/22 "2019-07-02T13:56:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > They looks like a cross-section of the Witcher fan base. Why shouldn’t they write the series? My thoughts exactly. They look less like the chess club and more like the “I play the Witcher all the damn time” club. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/23 "2019-07-02T14:25:38Z")
I have to admit, the books are my guilty pleasure. They’re dark and not really well written (or at least not well translated). Geralt is this brooding character who goes on these long philosophical diatribes. The series has a very Eastern European feel; the elves and dwarves are oppressed and liven in ghettos, magic is dangerous, foreign and vaguely seedy, and anyone with power instantly abuses it. I hope the series keeps all those elements. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/24 "2019-07-03T12:26:07Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > My thoughts exactly. > > They look less like the chess club and more like the “I play the Witcher all the damn time” club. Pretty sure the series is based off the books ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/25 "2019-07-03T13:20:42Z")
Please. Most book readers east of the Oder got to the series through the games. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/26 "2019-07-03T20:04:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Please. Most book readers east of the Oder got to the series through the games. ?? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/27 "2019-07-03T20:50:04Z")
Sorry. I meant _west_ of the Oder. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/28 "2019-07-04T12:12:24Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I have to admit, the books are my guilty pleasure. They’re dark and not really well written (or at least not well translated). Geralt is this brooding character who goes on these long philosophical diatribes. The series has a very Eastern European feel; the elves and dwarves are oppressed and liven in ghettos, magic is dangerous, foreign and vaguely seedy, and anyone with power instantly abuses it. I hope the series keeps all those elements. Do they get better? I read the first one (I think) after playing Witcher III - (loved it, the story-driven quality of the game was exceptional) and thought it was pretty bad tbh. I wasn’t expecting a literary marvel, either - I love fantasy books and have realistic expectations, but just thought there was nothing really there with it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/29 "2019-07-04T13:06:51Z")
The translation is awful - I mean, I don’t speak Polish so I can’t be sure, but I’m a translator myself and I know bad translation when I see it. Other than that, it’s pretty good, within the limits of the 1990’s “Look at my cool D&D campaign world” fantasy sub-genre. The world building is pretty solid and the characters are well crafted, and as noted, it has this fascinating Eastern European pessimism and morbidity that most Western readers aren’t exposed to that often. I suggest skipping the short story collections and jumping straight to “Blood of Elves” and the “saga”. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/30 "2019-07-04T15:17:51Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [First images from the show.](https://news.avclub.com/netflixs-the-witcher-releases-teaser-portraits-of-geral-1836017266) > It’s not much, but I’m cautiously optimistic. Geralt needs to look a lot more broken down & scarred, otherwise not bad. And yeah, the books are grim and fatalistic as hell. No one wins. Anything. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/31 "2019-07-05T01:45:44Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Geralt needs to look a lot more broken down & scarred, otherwise not bad. > > And yeah, the books are grim and fatalistic as hell. No one wins. Anything. Ever. That cast is way too good looking. Its obnoxious. Bunch of little kid models (well…little kids to my old ass). I mourn the lost days of character actors who look like normal humans. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/32 "2019-07-05T03:56:04Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I mourn the lost days of character actors who look like normal humans. But aren’t all the main characters described as reasonably attractive? Geralt is grizzled and scarred, sure. But I believe Ciri is supposed to be an attractive young woman. And my understanding is that the sorceresses often use magic to make themselves look as young and attractive as possible, despite mostly being 100+ year-old crones with a natural deformity of some sort( Yennefer for example originally had a humpback ). ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/33 "2019-07-05T07:45:42Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > But aren’t all the main characters described as reasonably attractive? Geralt is grizzled and scarred, sure. But I believe Ciri is supposed to be an attractive young woman. And my understanding is that the sorceresses often use magic to make themselves look as young and attractive as possible, despite mostly being 100+ year-old crones with a natural deformity of some sort( Yennefer for example originally had a humpback ). You make good points. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/34 "2019-07-20T09:32:34Z")
[And now, a trailer.](https://news.avclub.com/the-witchers-first-teaser-is-here-to-take-our-money-pl-1836544418) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/35 "2019-07-20T12:51:32Z")
I don’t know anything about _The Witcher_, I have not read the books or played the game or even heard of it, until maybe a year ago when chatter about this adaptation was starting to increase. And this trailer does not make me any the wiser. The difficulty with Fantasy movies or TV has always been striking the balance between the dramatic and the melodramatic. If you don’t carefully portray the main characters as likeable and live with them for long enough to really care about their fate, and instead get bogged down in too many ancillary characters talking in a stilted language reciting complicated lore that only matters because the plot needs some detail later on, then it risks falling apart. The _Lord of the Rings_ movies work because we get to know Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf, and everyone, slowly and deliberately, before we get too bogged down in plot mechanics. Same with _Game Of Thrones_ and _Star Wars_ and _Willow_ and _Labyrinth_ and _Ladyhawke_. But you can point to a hundred other fantasy movies that are just ponderous melodramatic cheese from start to finish, and frankly, this _Witcher_ trailer, though it’s only showing the exciting flashy bits, reminds me more of those than anything good. But it’s a TV series, so it can take its time to explore the characters, so maybe it will turn out okay. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/36 "2019-07-21T10:14:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [And now, a trailer.](https://news.avclub.com/the-witchers-first-teaser-is-here-to-take-our-money-pl-1836544418) OK, can buy Superman as Geralt now. And it looks like they do start Yennefer off as deformed. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/37 "2019-07-22T00:11:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > OK, can buy Superman as Geralt now. And it looks like they do start Yennefer off as deformed. I don’t, looks like bad Targaryen cosplaying to me instead of Geralt of Rivia. I’m going to give the series a chance anyway, but I have little hope. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/38 "2019-07-22T02:38:05Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I’m going to give the series a chance anyway, but I have little hope. That’s the spirit. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/39 "2019-10-31T18:11:24Z")
Newest trailer: It looks good, though I still say Geralt needs to be more worn & scarred. Interestingly, I didn't see a single monster in it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873/40 "2019-10-31T19:32:23Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Interestingly, I didn’t see a single monster in it. 0:22 - some sort of ghoul 1:32 - some sort of insect or spider, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/netflix-working-on-the-witcher-series/786873.md?page=3)