We’re still two months away from the premiere of The Witcher on Netflix, and the streaming juggernaut has yet to renew the series for a second season, but the show’s executive producer is already busy mapping out a narrative that’ll take 7 seasons to unfold.
The new trailer for The Witcher gave us a peek at the new fantasy show that will adapt the book series written by the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Netflix picked the series up as the Witcher games, especially The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, received universal acclaim and grew in popularity. And while the future of the show depends on how well it’ll be received after its debut, this hasn’t stopped Lauren S. Hissrich, the series’ showrunner, from planning ahead and mapping out a coherent and complementary narrative.
“I’ve [mapped out stories] for seven seasons,” Lauren said in a recent interview. “Right now it’s just about, ‘How do you set up stories that really capture audiences for years at a time?’ The worst thing we could do is put all of our energies just into season one, and not be thinking about where these characters can grow to.”
Knowing where you want to go narrative-wise and mapping out general directions will ultimately assist the natural development of characters and different storylines. Again, the future of The Witcher will heavily depend on audience reception, but a previous rumor suggested Netflix, feeling satisfied with the show, is willing to renew it for a couple more seasons.
In any case, fans are really excited about the adaption, which will tell the story of the Witcher Geralt as he roams the chaotic Northern Kingdoms in the hope of finding his place in the world. Longtime book fans were worried that Netflix might sugarcoat the rather gratuitous elements of Sapkowski’s novels, but Lauren Hissrich has assured us The Witcher will be a very adult show.
As of now, things are looking good for this new television adaptation, but will The Witcher experience a successful multi-season run like Game of Thrones? We’ll find out when the first season, featuring 8 episodes, debuts on December 20th.