Two of the biggest TV shows of 2019 came out on streaming platforms and both were incredibly well-received in their own ways, but one surprisingly outshined the other. Netflix’s The Witcher and Disney’s The Mandalorian respectively premiered in December and November, and while both shows are based off of franchises that are wildly different from each other, both shows are still quite similar to one another.
The Witcher is a fantasy story about Geralt, a hardened and intimidating silent-type mercenary whose origins are somewhat of a mystery. He hails from a line of Witchers, a self-created race of mutated people that undergo harsh training starting with childhood. Similarly, The Mandalorian is a story adapted from Star Wars that follows a mysterious mercenary, from a line of famous mercenaries known as Mandalorians, who also experiences a traumatic childhood. With that in mind, it can be argued that The Mandalorian is just The Witcher but in space, and vice versa.
In any case, The Witcher, as a franchise, is nowhere near as popular as the global phenomenon that is Star Wars, a much older franchise that has appeared across virtually every medium imaginable. Yet even with Star Wars’ immense popularity, Netflix’s The Witcher ended up outperforming The Mandalorian in terms of viewers. This could be due to a couple of factors.
The first factor deals with the immensely popular game The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt, a game that came out in 2015 and which brought the franchise to the level of mainstream popularity that perfectly set up the successful turnout of the Netflix show. The game has sold over 20 million units to date (and counting due to the newly released Switch version of The Witcher 3 and the new wave of players coming off of the hype of the Netflix show).
Another factor lies in the difference of episode availability. The first episode of The Mandalorian premiered on Disney Plus, the brand new streaming service and competitor to Netflix, on November 12 and it ran through into December ending with episode eight, Redemption. In contrast, the entire first season of The Witcher premiered on Netflix on December 20. Though Netflix’s binge-watching model of TV is not new at this point, it certainly gave The Witcher the advantage in delivery.
There is no hard and fast rule between week-by-week and season binging models of viewing as to which is better for ratings. But one particular complaint among critics of The Mandalorian definitively pointed to the disadvantage of its week-by-week airings model. A lot of people thought that the episodes were incredibly slow-paced and failed to grab attention. The key plot points of the show tended to be spread out, with the titular character often getting sidetracked into other activities, leading away from the main plotline. The series was also criticized for ostensibly being a "greatest hits" of Star Wars, borrowing elements from the franchise without making it distinctively unique.
For The Witcher, many professional critics found the story uninteresting and slow-paced, which was a similar complaint thrown at The Mandalorian. One of the most common comparisons that was drawn online following The Witcher’s premiere was to HBO’s Game of Thrones, which many critics agreed was superior to Netflix’s attempt at fantasy. However, one of the major complaints that even fans of the show seemed to have was that the time jumps between episodes was too jarring to comprehend at times.
There are key plot points that occur within the first episode yet in the next couple of episodes that follow, the setting sometimes jumps back in time significantly without any warning or immediate context. Other complaints were lodged at the show’s tonal consistency. Though many fans enjoyed Jaskier’s appearances, others thought the comedic relief in his scenes tended to fall flat when compared with the drama in later scenes.
In general though, Jaskier has managed to become something of a fan-favorite in the series. The song that he comes up with in the second episode, “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,” has quickly become a hit among fans and new viewers alike. Likewise, the fan-favorite character of The Mandalorian is another internet sensation, Baby Yoda, who has already become somewhat of an icon of Star Wars merchandise. Both Jaskier and Baby Yoda are due to return in the second seasons of The Witcher and The Mandalorian.
Season one of Netflix’s The Witcher is available now.