The Witcher Season 3 is (Finally) More Faithful to the Books

Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski's book series of the same name were critical of the first two seasons of Netflix show The Witcher due to its deviation from the source material. So, they'll no doubt be delighted to hear that season 3 is a much more faithful adaptation of Sapkowski's book Time of Contempt.

Showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich, though, is unapologetic about the first two seasons. She told Collider that the production team 'always…start from the books' but that it's not always possible 'to go straight from a page to a screen.'

She also explained that where the stories have strayed away from the books, it has always been in collaboration with the author.

'I've always talked to Sapkowski about…keeping the tone of the books the same,' she said. Adding, 'I think as long as we do that, as long as we're trying to invest in those stories in the way he wanted to tell them…we're in safe territory.'

And Schmidt-Hissrich says that what The Witcher is really all about is 'a family coming together' – and that family in this series is made up of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer.

Spanning across several years, season 1 moved along quite nicely, providing the backdrop to the tale and fitting two novels (The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny) into 8 episodes.

When it came to season 2, largely based on the book Blood of Elves, Schmidt-Hissrich said the novel was 'incredibly difficult to adapt, because there wasn't a lot of big action.'

One of the most controversial decisions was to introduce Eskel, a popular character from the books and friend of Geralt. Rather than being brought into the show as he was in the books, Eskel became an antagonist - and he didn't hang around long before he did after being infected by a leshy.

But season 2 was created with season 3 in mind. Schmidt-Hissrich said, 'We used season 2…to set up all of the things that we knew that we wanted to play now.' And she's confident season 3 will keep audiences engaged' while also appealing to 'the people who were there because they fell in love with the Witcher that Sapkowski wrote.'

Season 3 remaining faithful to the book, Schmidt-Hissrich says, is a decision that was also based on the content of the book and the way in which that could be adapted for the screen. Time of Contempt' she said, 'gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad,' that it was far easier to 'stick really, really closely with the books'.

That sentiment is also shared by the show's executive producer, Tomek Baginksi, who said in a recently released behind-the-scenes clip that season three is 'very, very close to the book.'

So the only thing left for the fans to do is to wait and hope that the creators of The Witcher will not disappoint them once again and be able to not only capture the spirit of the Witcher books, but also give Geralt, played by Henry Cavill, a proper send-off.

Source: Collider.