Netflix’s The Witcherhit the streaming platform just in time for Christmas. The adaptation of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novel series brings Geralt of Rivia, played by Henry Cavill, to a mainstream audience for the second time this decade. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt marked the first time this decade, and was a massively successful video game for developer CD Projekt Red. As confirmed early on in the Netflix project’s development, the new streaming series is not based on the video game series but rather on the source material by Sapkowski, though being based off of the same material is bound to draw similarities between the two multimedia fantasy projects. NOTE: This article does not contain spoilers for the Netflix series.
Sapkowski’s The Witcher has been adapted before. Lesser known adaptations include a handful of other works such as the Polish film and TV series The Hexer, but the most popular adaptation obviously comes from the video game series of the same name. The Witcher 3 was the project that brought the series to its current level of popularity, especially throughout the rest of Europe and North America. Though this new Netflix series is not involved with the video games, it does bring Sapkowski’s work to a whole new audience of people who do not play PC or console games.
The Netflix series is indeed similar to the video games in plenty of ways. The first and most obvious similarity between them comes from lead actor Henry Cavill, who does a convincing job in his portrayal of Geralt. His Geralt is ostensibly his own take on an impression of Doug Cockle’s performance as Geralt in the video games. A self-proclaimed heavy gamer, Cavill was likely inspired by Cockle’s portrayal, as his brooding nature and the inflections found in his responses match up perfectly with video game Geralt. One could probably not tell the difference between Cavill and Cockle saying “no” in an aggressive voice.
The fight scenes in the show are also portrayed in a way that resembles the video games, including some of the big action scenes. During a fight scene in one of the first episodes, the camera swings down low behind Geralt as he swings his blade and dances between enemies. The camera even stops to observe Geralt casting a sign, a shot fans of the video games would most certainly find familiar.
The show feels familiar to the games in other subtle ways as well. Geralt could have easily been portrayed as just a mercenary that goes out and kills monsters, but the show actually portrays him taking his time before monster battles in order to prepare for the upcoming fight, much like how The Witcher 3 makes the player do the same thing.
The reception of this series at launch is not too strong, with its Metacritic score currently sitting at a mediocre 53 points. In comparison, The Witcher 3 holds a Metacritic score of 92 from the time it was released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC back in 2015. Though critics are not too high on the new series, fans of the franchise could be split in either direction.
For fans of Sapkowski’s original novels, the new Netflix series could present a watching experience similar to the one experienced by fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels during the airing of Game of Thrones. By reading the books beforehand, these types of fans could watch along and point out similarities or inconsistencies between the show and novels as they watch, which would likely line up more than the video game series would.
For fans who have only played the games, but more specifically The Witcher 3:Wild Hunt, new story elements and plot lines from the novels are going to be revealed to them as some of these elements have been missing from the game. Additionally, because the game’s story is relatively long with multiple branching plotlines and endings, some of the story in the show is not going to immediately make sense. Otherwise, gamers can at least sit back and enjoy the gamified cinematography of the action. Either way, fans can at least look forward to the second season of the show.
Netflix’s The Witcher is available to stream now.