The Witcher EP Reveals They Couldn’t Fit the Whole First Book Into Season One

While it’s been known that Netflix’s The Witcher is more of an adaptation of the books by author Andrzej Sapkowski rather than, say, the popular video games by CD Projekt Red, exactly which stories and how much of Sapkowski’s work overall that’s going into Netflix’s version has remained a little murky. Given how early it would appear that Netflix’s take approaches Geralt of Rivia, it would make sense to start near the beginning, but starting there makes for a bit too much to chew on in the show’s first season, apparently.

In a recent interview that ComicBook.com conducted with executive producer Tomek Bagiński, when asked how much of the first book the show fits in, he revealed that while the first season might take a lot of source material from the series of short stories that comprise The Last Wish, the Witcher series book, it doesn’t use absolutely everything.

“Actually the books were a lot more source material than we could fit into eight episodes,” Bagiński said, “so we have to really be very, very careful with choosing which stories we want to tell. And Lauren [S. Hissrich, showrunner,] did a really great job. Not only choosing the right stories to tell the story of Geralt, but also by giving some background both to Yennefer and to Ciri. Because for us the goal was always tell a bigger story. A bigger story comes up first with the saga, and the saga there is not only about Geralt and his friends, it’s also about Yennefer, it’s also about Ciri, and we knew that we have to build those characters earlier.”

What do you think about what we’ve seen of Netflix’s The Witcher so far? Are you excited to see Cavill as Geralt of Rivia? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Here’s how Netflix describes the upcoming series on its press site:

“Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.”

Netflix’s The Witcher is scheduled to release its eight-episode first season on the streaming service on December 20th. It has already been renewed for a second season. Lauren S. Hissrich serves as showrunner. It stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Freya Allan as Ciri. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming adaptation right here.