‘No One Is Taking the Books Away. No One Is Taking the Video Games Away’ — The Witcher Showrunner Responds to Backlash to Netflix Show

The Witcher Season 4 is upon us, and as fans know, the series has strayed away somewhat from the books upon which it is based, which has sparked a backlash among some fans.

Showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich, however, has defended the approach taken for The Netflix show, which replaced Henry Cavill with Liam Hemsworth following the former Superman actor’s exit at the end of Season 3.

In an interview with Dexerto, Schmidt-Hissrich insisted that the Netflix show exists in addition to the books and CD Projekt’s much-loved video games, which still exist for fans to enjoy.

“You have book fans, you have video game fans, and then you have fans that knew nothing about this world until the show existed,” she said. “And the truth is we can’t choose one audience. We have to remember what we are doing, which is a television show.

“It is different than any other genre in any other form that you could tell this story, and we have to make the choices for that. We have eight hours every season to tell these stories, and we’re never going to be able to tell everything from the books.

“I also think that there have to be changes that you make for adaptation just to make this story keep going forward. Season 1’s the perfect example. Obviously we leaned into the two books of short stories, but you can’t just tell unrelated adventures in a season of television.

“You have to start to weave them together. You have to understand how these adventures lead our characters to be where they are meant to be. And so we had to start crafting… at that point it was connective tissue.

“We also have the privilege of knowing when we’re ending. Netflix picked up Season 4 and Season 5 at the same time, so we also had to write ourselves to that particular ending. So again, you make choices.

“One of the things that I’ve talked a lot to the author about and a lot to fans about is that the books still exist. No one is taking the books away. No one is taking the video games away. I think everyone can have their version of The Witcher and this is this version.”

It also sounds like Schmidt-Hissrich will step back from The Witcher after Season 5 is done and dusted. Also speaking to Dexerto, she insisted the show would not move past Andrzej Sapkowski’s books, so Season 5 really is it.

“By the time we wrap Season 5 fully, it will have been nine years of my life,” Schmidt-Hissrich said. “I think there are so many more stories to be told in The Witcher universe, truly.  But I also think you have to step back and accept gracefully, what is the end of this story that we’ve been telling?

“Are there more stories? Maybe. But this one has to end at this point, so I think it’s a nice time for all of us to step back a little bit.”

IGN’s The Witcher: Season 4 Review returned a 7/10. We said: “Even with the Cavill/Hemsworth shake-up, The Witcher sticks to its guns (er, swords) and delivers a decent season of magic and mayhem.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].