The Witcher by Netflix - The Cast; Premiere; Creators and All We Know
What used to be a pipe dream until the enormous success of The Wild Hunt, is now coming true. The Witcher from Netflix is coming, and we share every detail we've learned so far.
Table of Contents
- The Witcher by Netflix - The Cast; Premiere; Creators and All We Know
- How much in common will the Netflix Witcher have with books?
- Who will play Geralt?
How much in common will the Netflix Witcher have with books?
Unlike games of CD Projekt RED the series is supposed to be a fairly faithful adaptation of books. The first season, however, will not be based on five parts of the saga or on the Season of Storms, but on short stories about Geralt of Rivia, most often published in two collective volumes entitled The Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish. Although it is not clear which specific stories the scriptwriters are going to adapt, the cast of such characters as Yennefer, Ciri, Calanthe, Renfri, Eist or Mousesack allows us to narrow down the potential candidates to Lesser Evil, Question of Price, Last Wish, The Bounds of Reason, A Shard of Ice, Sword of Destiny and Something More, i.e. short stories from the first two books, which aren’t part of the saga – they’re sort of prequels, establishing the setting and introducing characters. From this group, Lesser Evil and Question of Price seem to be the surest material to be seen on screen, as only in these stories did Renfri and Eist appear respectively.
What's the budget of The Witcher series?
We do not know the official numbers, but according to the estimates the first series of Netflix's The Witcher probably cost around $6 million. It is not an impressive amount, especially when compared to the competitive Game of Thrones, where a single episode can cost as much as $15 million, but it should be remembered that until The Witcher proves its worth, it is simply one of hundreds of parallel projects for the American VoD platform. If the series is very successful, the following seasons will probably be able to count on budgets a few times greater.
Who composes music for The Witcher?
No official statements here either. However, we have a small piece of information, which may hint at the identity of the composer who’s going to be responsible for The Witcher's soundtrack. In June 2017, a few weeks after the official announcement of the series, Mikolaj Stroinski paid a visit to the Netflix headquarters – he’s one of the authors of the Wild Hunt OST. He may have of course visited to drink coffee and eat doughnuts with Reed Hastings, but in the absence of any other leads, he remains the main "suspect."
Andrzej Sapkowski and his connections with The Witcher series
Andrzej Sapkowski's attitude to video games isn’t all that favorable – although all memes and distortions have strongly exacerbated the author's alleged reluctance to adapt his works interactively, there is no denying that he isn’t a fan of interactive entertainment, and dissociates himself from the work of CD Projekt RED. He views the series of games as non-canonical and, according to him, the only real Geralt is the book Geralt – and nobody can argue him about it.
His attitude towards the series seems much warmer, as the creators stay in touch with the writer and consult with him their visions and ideas. In 2018, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich even went to Poland and met with Sapkowski, discussing ideas for Netflix series adaptation of his works. The writer also had the opportunity to visit the set, which he was asked to do in April during a meeting at the University of Lodz.
I met Cavill, the actor who plays The Witcher. He had a great costume and makeup.
Andrzej Sapkowski
Sapkowski clearly indicated that he cannot comment anything, because he is bound by a contract of silence. But when asked for his opinion on the script of the Netflix series he said: "It's far from my books." However, he praised the team and Lauren Hissrich herself for their professionalism.
What is the official description of The Witcher by Netflix?
The witcher Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
Where was The Witcher filmed?
The creators wanted to prevent The Witcher becoming a "typical" US production. This is the reason why the whole thing was shot in Europe. This was done in order to give the production an Eastern European, Slavic character. Most of the scenes were shot near Budapest (Hungary), but some of them were also shot in Poland, under the Ogrodzieniec castle in Silesia (southern part of Poland). Some parts were shot in the Canary Islands. Unconfirmed, but based on reliable source, the reports suggest that the shooting process of the series was completed in May 2019.
What heroes will appear in The Witcher from Netflix?
The following characters were confirmed to appear in the series: Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, Calanthe, Eist, Renfri, Mousesack, Tissaia, Fringilla, Sabrina, Buttercup (who – interestingly – in the English language version will remain Buttercup and not the Dandelion as in video games), Cahir, Stregobor, Istredd, Sir Lazlo, Dara, Triss, Marilka, Nohorn, Vyr, Nimir, Danek, Martin, Fletcher, Aridea, Tiffania, Toruviel, Torque, Filavandrel and Yarpen.
