author: Konrad Serafinski
The Witcher's Showrunner on Plans for Season 2 and Behind the Scenes
Lauren S. Hissrich, showrunner of the Witcher from Netflix, gave an interesting interview to GamesRadar+. In it, the artist talked about her plans for the second season and revealed several behind-the-scenes stories from the production of the show.
If you have already finished watching season 1 of The Witcher from Netflix, you probably have a few questions in your head. For example, when is season 2 coming out? How will the fate of your favourite characters turn out? What further stories will the series adapt? There are probably much more issues that you are curious to know. GamesRadar+ comes to your aid, conducting a very interesting interview with Lauren S. Hissrich, the showrunner of the Witcher. In it, the artist talks about the plans for the subsequent episodes and reveals some information from behind the scenes of the series. When asked about the details of the second season, she admitted that it would tell a more focused story:
"The truth is, we have a tonne of source material. We could write the show for a very, very long time. What’s great about season two, I can tell you, is that, in what we’ve written, the story becomes much more focused. There’s a stronger drive in the story, because all of the relationships that we’ve been setting up in season one, actually start to come into fruition in season two."
The creator also explained the reasons for setting the plot in several time periods. Hissrich admits that it was somehow a solution to a logic problem, because in order to start telling the story from Last Wish (according to the showrunner, this is the story best describing the realities of the world), she noticed that there is no mention of Ciri and Yennefer in it:
"The problem with those stories, to me, is that Yennefer and Ciri aren’t very present in them. Ciri, especially, isn’t even born during that time yet. So I wanted to bring their stories up, and I wanted to do those stories for Geralt. And it really became very evident that I needed to start to play with time a little bit."
In case you're wondering why the actor known mainly for his role as Superman got involved in the series, here's an answer:
"We auditioned some wonderful actors. But there was always something missing, or it felt like all of those aspects didn’t work together. They weren’t coming from the same human. When we sat down and Henry actually read for us – he auditioned, which is very rare for an actor of his calibre to be willing to do that – but he was so passionate about playing this role, and so fully embodied who we all thought Geralt was. I was actually in the room at the time for his audition, but then we sent tapes out to producers, and they immediately felt the same way. Like, 'Oh, that’s our guy.'"
Lauren S. Hissrich also admitted that she feels honored when people compare The Witcher to Game of Thrones. She also confessed that as a writer she has a huge debt of gratitude to GoT, because in fact it was this series that opened the door for the fantasy genre on TV. Also the original creator, Andrzej Sapkowski, appeared in the conversation. When asked for the best advice she got from from the writer, the showrunner replied (and no, it wasn't "Remember, Lauren, cash up front..."):
"The best piece of advice that I heard from him is not actually about The Witcher, it’s about writing. He taught me to hire people that I trust, and to then trust them to do their jobs. So he hired me to adapt this piece of work, and he is actually allowing me to do it. [...] And that has informed how I do my job as a showrunner, which is that I hire department heads, who then I trust to do their jobs very well, and I don’t have to be in every single piece of their business."
If you're curious about all the fun facts shared by the creator of the series, you should definitely look at the interview in full. We would like to remind that The Witcher had its premiere on December 20 and gathered rather positive reviews. Of course we invite you to read our opinion on the show as well.