Netflix announced that they will be developing and producing a TV Series based on the popular Witcher franchise. This will be only the latest form of entertainment that the franchise will be involved in, as the noted series of fantasy novels has most recently been turned into a popular video game trilogy.
What we know about Netflix's Witcher
Details on the upcoming TV series based on the Witcher franchise are scarce, with no information on when fans can expect the show to arrive. The author of the book series, Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, announced in a press release that he would be serving as a creative consultant on the upcoming Netflix TV series.
The executive producers of the series will be Sean Daniel and Jason Brown. Daniel is most notable for having served as a producer on 'The Mummy series', 'Dazed and Confused', 'Tombstone' and TV series 'The Expanse.' Brown has also worked with Daniel on the 2017 version of 'The Mummy' and 'The Expanse.'
Certain key members from Platige Image, a Polish visual effects studio, will also be working on the TV series. Platige Image is the same visual effects studio who created the CGI introductions to the Witcher video games.
A brief history of the Witcher
The Witcher started as four short stories that Andrzej Sapkowski first published in Polish magazine 'Fanatastyka' in 1986. These short stories would be published as the book 'The Last Wish' in 1993.
A second short-story collection was published as the book 'Sword of Destiny' in 1992, which is chronologically the second in the series.
These proved popular enough that Sapkowski would work on a Witcher saga of five books, focusing on the Witcher Geralt of Rivia and Ciri. These books are 'Blood of Elves', 'Time of Contempt', 'Baptism of Fire', 'The Tower of Swallows' and 'Lady of the Lake.' These were all published between 1994 and 1999, although the English edition of the last book was finally released this year.
In 2013, Sapkowski also wrote a standalone novel called 'Seasons of Storms.'
In 2001, a Polish movie based on the books called 'The Hexer' was released. The next year featured a follow-up TV series of the same name. However, the series would not gain popularity outside of Eastern Europe until video game developer CD Projekt Red's critically acclaimed video game trilogy.
The first game in the series, 'The Witcher' came out in 2007. Its follow-up 'The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings' came out in 2011. The last game in the trilogy, 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt' came out in 2015 and won many Game of the Year awards.
