Latest Fantasy News: Netflix users once again war between love and hate, as ‘Nimona’ garners excitement but atrocious ‘The Witcher’ posters stoke outrage

Netflix just can’t seem to stay in fans’ good graces. 

The longstanding streaming service is veering wildly between popularity and disfavor; as its string of cancellations continue to incite pushback, but its exciting upcoming projects renew hope.

We’ll never forgive the platform for canceling a slew of fantasy favorites — or for recasting Henry Cavill in The Witcher — and we certainly won’t let it off the hook for those god-awful season three posters, but we can’t deny our excitement over the first official trailer for Nimona. The animated adaptation of ND Stevenson’s popular webcomic-turned-graphic novel has been in development for years, but — despite consistent hurdles — its release is finally looming. First looks at the film are promising, but Netflix has burned us one too many times to put our complete faith in the platform. 

The fervor around Netflix is so intense, in fact, that it’s even managing to leech attention from the impending debut of Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid. In the lead-up to its release, the film has faced broad criticism as well as praise, so audiences aren’t sure what to think. They’ll have the chance to make their minds up for themselves soon, but in the meantime we’re reviewing director Rob Marshall’s process in creating the film, and making the hard decisions about which iconic scenes make the cut.

Rob Marshall couldn’t bring every scene from the animated Little Mermaid into live action

The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall recently dug into the process of adapting a beloved animated classic into live action, and discussed the challenging decision of which scenes, iconic lines, and plot points make the cut. An exact replica of the original somewhat defeats the point of an adaptation, after all, so fans shouldn’t expect the timeless story to look precisely the same with Halle Bailey in the lead role. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — it just gives us more to enjoy — but it did present plenty of hurdles for the cast and crew. A more modern take on the story should provide a wonderful story to share with a new generation of kids, even without a few fan-favorite scenes, and it seems the team behind The Little Mermaid took care to pick just the right moments to change or preserve. 

Our first look at Nimona helps turn the tides back in Netflix’s favor

Netflix hasn’t been overly popular, of late, and the streaming service is seeking to earn back subscribers’ love via the first look at Nimona. The animated flick does look great, and excitement is certainly ramping up online, but it might not be enough to soothe scalded fantasy fans. We’re not letting Lockwood & Co. go quite so easily. 

Still, Nimona reminds us of the reason we loved Netflix in the first place. The series, canceled by Disney several years back, nearly never saw the light of day. Then Netflix swooped in, as its done so many times before, and provided the film with a second chance at life. Thanks to Netflix, the Nimona adaptation is nearly upon us — now if it could only show the same faith in its other projects. 

Warrior Nun’s Simon Barry shifts aim from Netflix to MTG

The showrunner behind Netflix’s Warrior Nun, Simon Barry, has been heartily behind the campaign to save his show from the start. He’s been adamantly supporting the campaign’s continued efforts via his online platforms, but recently took a quick break to instead take aim at Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s fair to land on MTG when the topic of stupidity comes up, of course, but we can’t help but feel like Barry missed a clear opportunity here. After all, Netflix is right there, and if it’s dumb enough to cancel fan favorites like Warrior Nun, it’s a prime example of stupidity all on its own. 

Netflix once again outrages The Witcher fanbase, this time with season three posters

Netflix has already demonstrated that it doesn’t know — and certainly doesn’t care — what fantasy fans want, but the official posters for season three of The Witcher might just be the final straw. The upcoming season is already controversial, thanks to fallout from the hugely unpopular decision to recast Henry Cavill’s Geralt, and these posters certainly aren’t helping things. Tonally unbalanced posters, which look like they belong in a teen comedy, not a fantasy epic, quickly sparked outrage among fans of the story. Does Netflix have any idea what its doing, anymore?