The Witcher franchise may have quite a legion of fans between the games, books, and TV series, but it seems like the writers of The Witcher Tv series on Netflix are not among them. X-Men ’97 writer Beau DeMayo described the importance of making a show with people who “respect the work”, claiming that some of The Witcher writers hate the books from Andrzej Sapkowski and CD Projekt Red’s games and this created an atmosphere and “bad morale” on the Netflix show.
The Witcher books and games were “actively disliked” by the TV show writers
DeMayo used to work on The Witcher Netflix series, although he has since moved on to write X-Men ’97 for Disney+. Speaking to The Direct, he explained how he made sure that his new team was filled only with fans of the source material because of prior experiences on The Witcher where the Netflix series’ writers threw hate towards the books and games:
My general rule was you HAD to be a fan. No questions. I’ve been on show – namely Witcher – where some of the writers were not or actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material.) It’s a recipe for disaster and bad morale. Fandom as a litmus test checks egos and makes all the long nights worth it. You have to respect the work before you’re allowed to add to its legacy.
Dislike for other types of media seems to be a running theme when it comes to The Witcher franchise. Sapkowski has previously detailed his hatred for the games, mainly because he feels people refused to read his books because they believed they were based on the game, when in reality the games were based on the books. This doesn’t seem to have affected either the games or the TV show, though, seeing as The Witcher Season 3 will be released on Netflix in 2023, while CD Projekt Red is currently working on The Witcher 4.
