From page to videogame, to the silver screen, The Witcher is coming to Netflix as an English drama series, it was announced today.
Sean Daniel (The Mummy, Ben-Hur, The Expanse) and Jason Brown (The Expanse), from the Sean Daniel Company, Tomek Baginski (Oscar-nominated short The Cathedral, BAFTA-winning The Fallen Art, Ambition) and Jarek Sawko (The Fallen Art, Another Day of Life) from Platige Image are executive producers for the forthcoming series. Baginski has confirmed that he will direct at least one episode a season.
“The Witcher stories follow an unconventional family that comes together to fight for truth in a dangerous world,” Daniel and Brown said. “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.”
The Witcher follows Geralt of Rivera, a Witcher, or a monster hunter of sorts. At a young age, he was genetically modified to have supernatural powers and live his life slaying monsters that could only dwell in fantasy worlds. Geralt’s one of the few Witchers remaining in The Continent, and as fans may know him, he’s quite the playboy.
The Witcher, penned by Andrzej Sapkowski, initially started as a series of short stories in Fantastyka, a science-fiction magazine, in the mid-’80s. Sapkowski’s first story, The Witcher, was written for a contest that magazine and won third place.
Sapowski then went on to write more short story collections following Geralt’s adventures that came to life in the early ‘90s in Eastern Europe; Sapowski’s stories saw English translations starting in 2007. Today, The Witcher is known as a major videogame franchise by CD Projekt RED, a graphic novel and much more.
“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” Sapkowski said. “I’m excited about our efforts together, as well as the team assembled to shepherd these characters to life.”
At this time, nothing has been revealed on when fans may expect to see the series air.