5 Reasons To Watch Netflix’s The Witcher

Rusty sword hilt
Photo by Susanne Jutzeler from Pexels

“Nonsense,” said the witcher. “And what’s more, it doesn’t rhyme. All decent predictions rhyme.”

― Andrzej Sapkowski, The Last Wish

Yes, I have watched Netflix’s The Witcher – twice. Yes, it is as amazing as the fans say. No, you should not take the critics’, well, critique of the show to heart. If you haven’t watched the series yet, here are five reasons why you need to watch The Witcher season one. Now.

1. Netflix hired seasoned, talented actors to bring Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher to life. Aside from being physically capable to move like a Witcher, Henry Cavill is a The Witcher mega fan himself. Cavill read the books and played all of The Witcher video games. Cavill doesn’t just ooze Geralt of Rivia – he is Geralt of Rivia. Anya Chalotra, who plays Yennefer of Vengerberg in The Witcher Netflix series, got her acting start in theatre. Chalotra starred in West End theatre productions and eventually moved onto television. Freya Allan, who portrayed Princess Cirilla, had her share of acting roles as well but none quite as big as her role in The Witcher series.

2. If you haven’t seen the memes, remixes and mashups of Joey Batey’s (who plays Jaskier in the show) Toss A Coin To Your Witcher – you are missing out. I wish they had this song in the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt. I can only imagine.

I recommend you watch the show, so the memes finally start making sense.

3. The Witcher season one follows the stories of the main characters, Geralt, Yennefer and Cirilla or Ciri for short. We are not only watching three different stories but three different timelines, each happening simultaneously. The character’s timelines skip backwards and forwards through time, obviously confusing a lot of fans. This is why I think Netflix’s The Witcher has such high rewatch value. After you see the show once, you have an idea of how the timelines work. The second watch through is so much more enjoyable. Not only that, you start to pick up on small details you haven’t noticed the first time around.

4. The Netflix series welcomes all fans from all avenues. Like most fans to The Witcher series, I started my journey through Andrzej Sapkowski’s mystical whirlwind through the Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by video game developer, CD Projekt Red. You could have started with The Witcher book series or the video games or even the 2001 Polish movie adaptation The Hexer – it doesn’t matter. Although, I must say, first-timers to The Witcher series may be confused – at least in the beginning. The series has plenty of lore, too much if you aren’t used to high fantasy but there are wonderful resources online that can help you make sense of it all.

5. The Witcher series showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, knows what she’s doing. Hissrich wrote and produced a number of highly acclaimed shows, including Marvel’s Daredevil (2016) and Umbrella Academy (2019). Need I say more?

Bonus reason: Netflix and Hissrich even got the author of The Witcher book series, Andrzej Sapkowski, in on the action.

Ugh, this video warms the cockles of my heart.

Lastly, no, The Witcher is not the Game of Thrones – this is something completely different. I am going to leave it at that.

2 Comments

  1. Good points! I completely love the novels and I am still trying to finish every side quest in the Wild Hunt after like a year of starting it. but the Netflix adaptation is surprisingly good too. They have a good cast that gave justice to the characters. all the while trying to stick to the original plot. Excited for the next season!

    Liked by 1 person

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