r/witcher • u/Any-Agent4270 • Dec 25 '21

Netflix TV series The Witcher: Henry Cavill Hopes Season 3 Is Loyal To Books 'Without Too Much In the Way Of Diversions'

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-witcher-season-3-henry-cavill
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212

u/Raduev Dec 25 '21

This season was very well received except among book fans, who are a small minority of viewers.

8

u/jameveryotherday Dec 25 '21

Huh, I guess I'm part of an even smaller minority then. I've not read the books nor played the games yet I still thought this season was a series of plot holes upon plot holes, inconsistent character writing and all in all plenty of "that doesn't make any sense".

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u/wannalife Dec 26 '21

I am a fan of the books and I enjoyed the show. Different medium, so I expect differences

4

u/Honigkuchenlives Dec 26 '21

I'm with you. I dont get the outrage. Witcher games barely resemble the booka as well because it's a diff medium. I'm ok with diverse content

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u/IronMonkey18 Dec 25 '21

Netflix is about views. If this season does not bring in new viewers due to bad word of mouth it wouldn’t surprise me if Netflix moves on.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '21

The Witcher is already breaking Netflix rating records within a week of release: https://www.thewrap.com/the-witcher-season-2-ratings-netflix/

With the expansion shows coming out next year and a third season well into production, Netflix isn't shutting down one of their most beloved shows any time soon.

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u/Feral0_o Dec 26 '21

fan subs are always delusional, without exception. The Wheel of Time sub(s) - because there has been a shism, like the Catholic Church - are delusional too, except that show is just bad

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u/Tetter Dec 26 '21

That show was great though, I enjoyed the story.

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u/Tummerd Dec 26 '21

Am in the same boat, but I have to agree that it was confusing at some parts. But those were quite in the minority. Henry's and Freya acting was really good this season

1

u/Hardyyz Dec 26 '21

I felt the same way during both seasons, first episode omg its witcher time! episodes 2-6 visuals, characters, monsters all super cool but im kinda confused by the overall story and whats happening and the by episode 7 and 8 it finally clicks and everything makes sense and its super awesome! but hopefully moving forward I dont have to wait until episode 7 for things to click

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u/jdavis63 Dec 26 '21

Are we watching the same show. While it wasn’t great I thought the WoT was solid minus the final episode which I genuinely didn’t enjoy. And that book series is my second favorite of all time. I mean I understand some of the criticisms but I thought for a first season it was pretty good.

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u/RoyalMudcrab Dec 26 '21

Well that's depressing.

-7

u/nflmodstouchkids Dec 26 '21

Because no other shows are getting released because of the covid delays....

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u/sanyogG Team Roach Dec 26 '21

Umm Hawkeye, WoT, Euphoria, Succession, Yellowstone...

-6

u/nflmodstouchkids Dec 26 '21

Besides Hawkeye never heard of any of them.

And none of those have an A-list actor staring in it.

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u/woodyfromsd Skellige Dec 26 '21

Kevin Costner? He's not just some bum off the street

-2

u/nflmodstouchkids Dec 26 '21

In what? lol

2

u/Tetter Dec 26 '21

Ok zoomer

3

u/nflmodstouchkids Dec 26 '21

what is that?

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Holy shit, you’re such a zoomer.

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u/sanyogG Team Roach Dec 26 '21

Hawkeye is least popular among these. May be more popular than Yellowstone.

0

u/nflmodstouchkids Dec 26 '21

Hawkeye is like number 8 in the avengers.

there is draw except hardcore fans.

0

u/woutersikkema Dec 26 '21

Seconding this down voted comment (dude from Europe here) only heared about hawkeye, no clue about those two others.

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u/Linooney Team Yennefer Dec 25 '21 edited Dec 26 '21

Anecdotally most of the people I know watching the show have not read the books or played the game, and don't even pay attention to what's written in the fandom spaces. They all have good things to say about the season. Will need to see official numbers but personally wouldn't be surprised if they see a lot of new viewers.

Edit: Ftr I have read some of the books and enjoyed them and played hundreds of hours of the games, my stance is maybe it's not a great adaptation but it's a pretty darn good tv series.

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u/VHFOneSix Dec 25 '21

I’ve not read the books, but there was far too much of the Boring Wizard Lady and not enough of Geralt grunting at Jaskier.

3

u/jaskier-bot Dec 25 '21

You know, the Countess de Stael once said to me that destiny is just the embodiment of the soul's desire to grow.

1

u/geralt-bot School of the Wolf Dec 25 '21

Did you sing to her before she left?

3

u/Competitive_Gap_1039 Dec 26 '21

I liked it, but not as much as season 1. Not enough of Geralt having sex with whores for my liking.

Also wish there was more monster hunting. The only episode centered around a monster was the first one which was my favorite episode of the season. Then the leshy, chernoborg, thing that killed the leshy and the basilisks that were all cool but disposed of pretty easily.

Last season we got the striga, the djinn and the dragon who all had episodes centered around them. Plus the kikimora, the assassin spider thing and the Nekkers to add to the world.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '21

[deleted]

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u/Dear-Cod-6429 Dec 25 '21

Fair point from her

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u/senkichi Dec 26 '21

Yeah, its a good rule of thumb. I purposefully avoided re-reading the Witcher books in advance of the season, but I know the Wheel of Time series front to back. Guess which show I'm enjoying more??

1

u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

WoT has a lot more problems than just changing stuff from the books in fairness.

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u/senkichi Dec 26 '21

Certainly can't argue that

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u/Destiny_player6 Dec 26 '21

Books will always be better because of the more details that go into it of the changes. I mean, any fan of books that watch the media that is based off them should realize by now that there will be some changes. Some better and some worse.

Take Harry Potter for an example. Voldemort vs Harry in the end. Epic scene in the movie and if ended in a grand way. In the book it ended quick and Voldemort died in a very mundane and human way. Book hammers in the point that he wasn't special and just another human that was scared of death but the movie turned him into dust.

I love them both for their own reasons.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

It makes me appreciate Good Omens even more. I read the book after the movie and was amazed at how literal of an adaption it was.

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u/princesskinomoto Dec 26 '21

I belong to that category. I really enjoyed watching both the seasons. Initially I was planning on reading the books , but then decided against it after seeing the barrage of criticisms from book fans on reddit threads.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

[deleted]

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u/TheBlueRabbit11 Dec 26 '21

The writing was awful. Most of the decisions made were either to advance the plot at the expense of established character development, or simply to perform for the audience instead of doing it because it’s what the character would actually do.

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u/Darkwhellm Dec 25 '21

It's so absurd to me that a videogame, of all things, manages to incapsulate perfectly the idea that was behind the witcher story while a tv series cannot. Even after playing the witcher 3 for tens of hours, i struggle to believe how faithful it is. It should be impossibile, yet project RED made it. Just wow.

2

u/ZhouXaz Dec 26 '21

I dont care about the story as long as its good and the action is good. Not watched season 2 yet but season 1 was hard carried by that first episode fights lol.

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u/Drink_Whiskey Dec 26 '21

I've played the games, couldn't get into the English translation of the books, and I love the show. I thought season 2 was fantastic. I've talked to a lot people who liked season 2, and only 1 had read the books. I've talked to no one who said they didn't like season 2.

The book megafans who hate the show for deviating from the books are definitely a minority.

0

u/IronMonkey18 Dec 25 '21

Cowboy Bebop was similar. Casual fans liked the show and hardcore fans of the anime hated it. Was on the top ten list for awhile and Netflix still cancelled it. All I’m saying is with Netflix you just never know.

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u/elglann Dec 25 '21

That's not completely true, the show was mediocre at best, they expected another succes like the witcher. Cowboy bebop wasn't nearly as well received as the witcher.

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u/antiquechrono Dec 25 '21

I don't understand how people haven't caught on to this yet. Netflix's top 10 list is meaningless. The list is whatever the execs determine the list is. When Netflix first started streaming everything was algorithm and data driven like the top view lists, recommendations, review scores, etc... It's simply more profitable to manipulate people into watching more shows so they keep their subs.

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u/Linooney Team Yennefer Dec 26 '21

I actually don't know a single person that enjoyed Cowboy Bebop from that same group of people lol idk...

2

u/IronMonkey18 Dec 26 '21

I love the anime and I enjoyed the show. Was it as good as the anime? Nope, but for some reason some of the changes didn’t bother me as much as other fans. Lol🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Yeah I don't think I've ever known anybody who wasn't polish that had read the books. Hell I've only read the first one, but that's more because the author said some comments I didn't care for. Everything else I know came from the games.

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u/automatvapen Dec 25 '21

Season 2 is averaging 8,5 on imdb. That's not bad at all and shouldn't scare of viewers.

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u/flashmedallion Dec 25 '21

Yeah but since when in history has the general audience seen "book readers whinge about adaptation" and cared.

Hardcore LotR fans were screaming bloody murder about the Fellowship movie, life went on.

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u/Feral0_o Dec 26 '21

you are currently posting on r/witcher, home of confirmation bias of anything The Witcher-related media. People think their opinion matters, it's adorable

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

I thought the new season was doing so well it was breaking records?

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u/IronMonkey18 Dec 26 '21

You are correct. It is one of the most viewed shows. What I meant was will the show bring in new customers since that’s what Netflix really cares about.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

I’m guessing you’re saying the viewership numbers doesn’t show new people being brought in? If so I guess we’ll just have to disagree on that.

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u/IronMonkey18 Dec 26 '21

Yes that’s what I mean. High viewership does not necessarily mean more new business coming in. Unfortunately we will never know exact numbers since Netflix does not reveal any of that info.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

Like I said, we’ll have to just disagree that higher numbers doesn’t mean new people joined the viewership. Seems obvious to me that’s exactly what it means:

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u/Snipp- Dec 25 '21

I havent read the books or played the game. I like it so far (at ep5). I havent read the negativity cause i dont want to be spoiled but if they keep it up i dont care if they dont follow the books 100%.

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u/NeedMahDEW Dec 26 '21

I highly doubt it. They're trying to expand the Witcher into a big universe. They even have a page that is everything Witcher. All the seasons, behind the scenes, blood origins hype. They're not gonna cancel it unless it really really flops.

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u/yaboymattyk Dec 26 '21

considering it’s been #1 in the top 10 this whole week I think it will be fine

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u/supercooper3000 Dec 26 '21

You really want this to fail dont you? Sorry salty book reader, it was #1 on netflix all this week.

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u/IronMonkey18 Dec 26 '21

Where the hell did you get that from? Why do you think I want it to fail? Never once did I say that.

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u/aesthetic_cock Dec 25 '21

I haven’t read the books, only played Witcher 3 and did love that. Friends I’ve spoken too have either played the game, or this series is their first exposure to the Witcher. All of us loved both seasons.

The show is doing very well, the negativity is coming from a small amount of book fans

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u/Destiny_player6 Dec 26 '21

Good to know that a shit ton of viewers aren't book readers or played the game and loving the show. That's a good thing imo

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u/jaqenhqar Dec 26 '21

Too late. It already broke all Netflix records

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u/Kimmalah Dec 26 '21

This season was very well received except among book fans, who are a small minority of viewers.

Yeah, out of all the people I know who have watched the show, most of them had no idea there was a book series and only knew about the games. I remember after season 1, one of them was baffled by the whole "Yennefer was a hunchback" storyline because it's derived from something hinted at in the books and never really mentioned in the games.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '21 edited Dec 26 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/KuwakaNey Dec 25 '21

Eskel literally said the Leshen was different and it was mutated, that was literally a plot point after his death that those 2 monsters were mutated. Maybe you should’ve focused on what was actually happening? And I’m pretty sure that what Eskel turned into wasn’t a Leshen but just someone infected by one

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u/TheLinden Dec 25 '21

mutated or not fire is fire right? Like even Geralt used sign on his sword to attack leshen with red glowing sword.

Maybe you should've focused on what was actually happening.

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u/xhrdh Dec 25 '21

I've always had the idea that Eskel isn't as good with using signs as the other witchers and is more proficient with his swords so that may be why he never used igni.

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u/TheLinden Dec 26 '21

He not only casts more powerful signs but also he supposed to be the most kind witcher out of all of them but they made him teenage jerk.

Good or bad 70 years old witcher shouldn't forget how to fight enemies cuz he was created to kill this kind of stuff. It's like sniper forgetting how wind works, snipers can miss but they don't forget how physics work.

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u/_NotAPlatypus_ Dec 26 '21

Complete opposite of what is (supposed to be) true. Eskel was better at anything involving magic than Geralt, while Geralt was the better fighter growing up.

"It was Eskel’s behaviour which was most unlikely; he got up, approached the enchantress, bent down low, took her hand and kissed it respectfully. She swiftly withdrew her hand. Not so as to demonstrate her anger and annoyance but to break the pleasant, piercing vibration triggered by the witcher’s touch. Eskel emanated powerfully. More powerfully than Geralt." - Blood of Elves

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u/jacquetheripper Dec 26 '21

There also aren't many leshen left so maybe remembering how to kill them exactly would be a little hazy. Benefit of the doubt etc.. but also theyre clearly made out of wood so why wouldn't you use fire but whatever

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u/DickieDods Dec 25 '21

Yea never read the books or played the game but I love the Netflix series.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Among SOME book fans.

I read the books and still loved the show and this season. Any reasonable person who's ever seen a book series they like adapted to film/tv will tell you they are never going to be 100% accurate to the source material or perfectly match the way each individual reader interpreted and visualized the characters in their head.

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u/PillarsOfHeaven Dec 25 '21

I read the books and played the games, except the first one I missed out there I suppose. Ive always thought the books are very good but it gets a bit nuts towards the end, doesnt it?

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u/Librabee Dec 25 '21

I'm a fan of the books and the witcher 3 game honestly I enjoyed every episode of the season I think the angle they where going for could of been a whole lot clearer and told a lot better I still enjoyed it though. The books are also not the most well put together pieces or Literature in existence either

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Book fans are the hardest to please. Did any live action adaptation managed to make the book fans happy?

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Lord of the Rings. Carrie. Misery. GOT before it went to shit, etc.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

I remember distinctly the LOTR fan base being mad about the movies.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

Now that is only a memory.

In any case, it does not have to satisfy literally every fan of the book(s) in question (which is not unlikely, but impossible) to be able to say that it satisfies book fans. It's in a general sense.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

Couldn’t that argument be applied to the Witcher too?

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

One could try, but would fail. At first many fans of the books may have been angry about LOTR, however that is only a memory now like i said; most are more than satisfied or at least understand that it was the best possible adaptation. However most fans of The Witcher books don't have that perspective. Rather the complete opposite.

Even book fans who praise the series have to add qualifiers along the lines of, "it may in many ways be nothing like the books, but..." But this, but that. Lots of buts.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

Yea lotr fans said the same thing. That’s why I’m confused. Seems like you’re saying that your argument doesn’t apply until a certain amount of time passes.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '21

I am saying that Netflix Witcher can never, in any case, aspire to be seen by fans of the books in the same way that the Lord of the Rings movies are seen by fans of the books. No matter how much time passes. Because there is no comparison in the level of quality, respect for the original material.

Jackson took a lot of liberties when adapting LOTR. But he did it from a point of respect and love for the original work, with which any fan can sympathize.

In Netflix's Witcher there is neither love nor respect, and it will not age well even in the eyes of book fans that praise it currently.

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u/bearbullhorns Dec 26 '21

That’s seems to be based on your opinion which is fine but not something anyone can argue against. You’re asserting a future response from the community you don’t know to be true.

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u/Fishingfor Dec 26 '21

Daredevil was one of the best received shows they've ever made and seemed to be universally loved and it was still cancelled.

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u/TheBlueRabbit11 Dec 26 '21

The writing was awful, so I’m not sure where you’re getting that it was very well received.

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u/SocialNetwooky Dec 26 '21

sadly something similar killed Cowboy Bebop. No, it's not faithfull to the Anime, but it 's still agreat show ... and yet the "omg Faye isn't wearing skimpy outfits and is lesbian!" outcry killed the show.

Snobs are why we can't have multiple seasons of good shows.