The Witcher’s showrunner has admitted that she nearly turned down the chance to head the show due to the similarities between Game of Thrones.
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich was approached the head the fantasy adaption whilst working in the writers room of fellow Netflix hit The Umbrella Academy, but she said she hesitated due to Thrones, which was at that point the biggest show in the world.
Much like the HBO high-fantasy epic, The Witcher is also an adaption of a best-selling book series; this time by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
Speaking to The Writer’s Guild of America podcast 3rd & Fairfax, Hissrich admitted her initial reaction to the job offer was: ‘I can’t do that! There’s no way!
‘That fanbase deserves someone that knows they can write a fantastic fantasy show. Someone who has experience writing fantasy; someone who… can give them what they’re expecting… I don’t think I’m the person to take that on’
She elaborated: ‘My experience up to that point in writing had really been about family drama, character-driven drama, and that’s something I knew I could write.’
Therefore, her pitch for the series – also inspired by Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk – broke the narrative into three distinct, non-linear paths following Geralt (Henry Cavill), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and the Princess Ciri (Freya Allan).
‘I think that pitch was probably what convinced Netflix to give me a shot with a huge property that I had no experience with,’ she admitted.
As fans of the show will know, however, these three narrative strands did eventually meet up during the series finale, although we still don’t know what happened to Yennefer after she disappeared.
Filming had, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, already started on the second series, which has seen former Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju join the cast.
The big news going in to the sophomore run, however, is that Killing Eve’s Kim Bodnia will appear as Geralt’s legendary mentor Vesemir.
The role was previously coveted by Star Wars legend Mark Hamill.
The Witcher season 1 is available to stream now via Netflix.
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