Andrzej Sapkowski is a man who does not mince his words, no matter how prominent he becomes on an international stage after Netflix’s adaptation of his Witcher series became a smash hit. But even with that reputation, there’s something incredibly funny about how willing the man is to just not give a single care in the world about discussing his perfunctory relationship with his streaming success.
We already mentioned yesterday how Sapkowski—speaking at an appearance during Comic Con Vienna—casually brushed off that Netflix’s plans to keep expanding on its Witcher franchise outside of the live-action series were just simply more things that would keep him paying his rent. But it turns out, at the same panel (via the Hollywood Reporter), Sapkowski was also clear on how little Netflix actually paid attention to him outside of sending a check.
“Maybe, I gave them some ideas, but they never listened to me. But it’s normal,” Sapkowski said when asked if he had any input into the narrative of the show, before imitating an executive: “Who’s this? It’s a writer, it’s nobody.”
It’s perhaps unsurprising given, as we said, Sapkowski’s infamous reputation for saying whatever he damn well likes. But it’s interesting considering the deepening criticism of The Witcher adaptation as it’s progressed, and further diverged from the characterization and narrative of Sapkowski’s stories as it’s gone on. After all, a persistent rumor around the shock exit of star Henry Cavill after the third season was that the actor, an ardent fan of the books and CD Projekt Red’s Witcher games, clashed with producers over creative differences relating to a perceived lack of faithfulness to the source material.
But still, it’s not like Sapkowski is really complaining. Like he says, Netflix does what it wants; he gets rent money and can do whatever he wants, too.
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