Some fans of The Witcher seem to have united in their antipathy toward one of the creative minds behind the popular Netflix series.
Redditor Hotspriest shared their opinion on the matter in r/TheWitcher subreddit in a post titled, “When the one thing the entire fandom can agree on is how much they don’t like you.”
The target of their ire is Lauren Hissrich, the show’s executive producer and showrunner. A number of her creative decisions deviate from the trajectory of the Andrzej Sapkowski novels on which The Witcher is based, and this has ruffled the feathers of Sapkowski purists. The post received over 600 upvotes.
SilverFar9734 agreed that the showrunner and writers have failed to incorporate important aspects of the source material into the television adaptation. However, they were reluctant to participate in shaming Hissrich and were careful to make a distinction between their dissatisfaction with the series and their feelings about her. The emphasis was that the criticism wasn’t personal.
Sirshmuelington accused Hissrich of hubris because she’s stuck with her creative vision and ignored the criticism from some of the show’s fans. They also speculated that Henry Cavill’s departure from the series may have been because the actor fell out with Hissrich.
Another Redditor called WikiMB was alarmed by what they described as an about-face by fans in the subreddit who used to compliment the series. They recalled, “A year or two years ago […] I saw nothing but praise.”
A lot seems to have changed since then. It seems some fans are upset because the series didn’t match their expectation. Clearly, they don’t feel they are heard by the powers that be and have taken to Reddit to blow off steam. Whether or not their critique of Hissrich will bring about the changes they desire remains to be seen.
The Witcher is streaming on Netflix.
