Netflix is planning to develop the critically acclaimed The Witcher saga into a television series.
The new series will take obvious cues from both the video game series of the same name, as well as the eight-novel series written by Andrzej Sapkowski, who famously said recently that he doesn’t earn a cent from profit earned from game sales.
Sapkowski will work as a creative consultant on the series.
“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories,” he said, “staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing.”
A CD Projekt RED regular, Tomas Baginski, is said to be on board to direct at least one episode per season of the new Witcher TV series.
Baginski directed the introductory scenes for all three Witcher games, and also did the Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer.
He’s also on board to direct a film version of The Witcher, but that project’s future may well depend on the success of this new television series.
Executive producers Sean Daniel and Jason Brown (of Netflix sci-fi drama The Expanse) said the television series would follow an unconventional family that “comes together to fight for truth in a dangerous world”.
“The characters are original, funny and constantly surprising and we can’t wait to bring them to life at Netflix, the perfect home for innovative storytelling,” they said in a joint statement.
The series will be co-produced by Polish production company Platige Image.
While The Witcher‘s entry into the mainstream arena is undoubtedly due to the success of the games, the books won’t be ignored in this adaptation, according to Baginski and co-executive producer Jarek Sawko.
“There is a moral and intellectual depth in these books which goes beyond genre. It is a story about today and today’s challenges, hidden under a fantasy cover. It is a story about us, about the monster and the hero inside all of our hearts.”
That’s all we know about The Witcher TV series thus far.
