Netflix’s The Witcher stayed as true to the source material as possible, but there’s one aspect in which it improved the books. Based on the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher debuted on Netflix in December 2019 and it might be the platform’s biggest first TV season ever. Netflix was well-aware of the popularity of The Witcher and renewed it for a second season before the first one came out.
The Witcher had a different narrative style, following three characters in different places and points in time, with their paths converging towards the end of the season. Those characters are the title witcher, Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill); Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), a powerful sorceress with a difficult past; and Ciri (Freya Allan), the crown princess of Cintra. This narrative approach allowed viewers to truly get to know these characters and others that crossed their paths, such as Jaskier (Joey Batey), Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer), and Cahir (Eamon Farren), and it also helped the show improve the books in one very important aspect.
The Witcher book series is formed by two short stories collections (Sword of Destiny and The Last Wish), five books from the saga (Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and The Lady of the Lake), and a standalone novel (Seasons of Storms), but the Netflix series had one big advantage over the books, which is more time to explore the characters a bit deeper. In the short documentary Making The Witcher, producer Tomasz Bagiński explains that, while the emotions and relationships between these characters are in the books and are an important part of them, the series allowed them to fully focus on them and develop them more, which in turn helped the audience connect with Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri.
By having each character in its own place and point in time through The Witcher, the writers were able to explore their journeys better than in the books, and in some cases, as was Yennefer’s, they were given proper backstories. The show also allows fans to see the dynamics between the characters from a different perspective and thus understand them better, as is the case of Geralt and Ciri’s relationship, which is pretty much the one that led the first season and will be the core of season 2, as it all points at Ciri being trained by Geralt and other witchers.
While The Witcher season 2 will not make as many jumps from one point in time to another as the first season did, what it will surely keep on doing is focus on the emotions and relationships between Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer, as well as their dynamics with other characters that help push their stories forward – and this will definitely help those who read the books after watching the series, as it will give them a better understanding of who they are, what they want, and why they do what they do.