Netflix's Witcher Keeps Betraying the Fans of the Original Books, But It's Actually Justified
The upcoming Season 3 of the Witcher will be the last with Henry Cavill playing Geralt.
Cavill reportedly left after the Netflix series took too many liberties from the books in regards to key plot points and characterization. According to some fans, the changes might be justified.
One Witcher fan took to Reddit to explain why they understand the changes made by Netflix. The user had just finished reading the books after having seen the show.
When the books featured Geralt, Yennefer, and "actual Witcher stuff," they loved the books. But unfortunately, after the chronological first book, Geralt is phased out.
The user didn't like that Yen and Geralt were eventually given small roles, and replaced altogether by Ciri. There wasn't enough action page-to-page to justify a perfect remake on-screen.
They compared it to Game of Thrones. The HBO series eventually had vastly differing plotlines from the books, and it was seen as a positive.
The user said that if 80% of the show was focused on Brienne of Tarth, it wouldn't be engaging. For other fans, that mindset is the problem.
One dissenter said that most adults like the books because of the actionless drama and the dilemmas characters faced in the morality – not just the action.
They believe that underdeveloped dialogue and fun action sequences are "easier to sell" by Netflix.
Many fans of the books believe that it's "fake fans" who ruined the Witcher just as much as the studio.
They don't care about the mythos or the drama or the depth. All they care about is Henry Cavill in exciting action sequences.
In reality, both sides are a little bit right. There are certain things in books that don't translate well in movies and television. Books are a better medium for inner dialogue and in-universe history; filmography is a better medium for action.
For example, the Lord of the Rings book trilogy is filled with conceptual jargon and deep-dives into the mythos that the movies are lacking, but the film series moves at a much faster pace.
However, when adapting film from another medium, it's important not to lose the heart of what first made it popular.
Lord of the Rings was popular among the average viewer and among (most) passionate Tolkien fans because it didn't seriously alter the plot or characterization.
It felt like Tolkien's writing brought to life – and that's something that The Witcher is missing. Too much has been changed to still have the heart of what originally made the character popular.
So while it had an incredibly strong Season 1 and still retains strong following, passionate fans of the original lore will always feel scorned by the changes Netflix had made.