The Witcher author thinks Netflix show can equal or surpass Game of Thrones

I have a confession to make: I have a new mancrush, and his name is Andrzej Sapkowski, the 71-year-old author of the Witcher books.

The Witcher novels, for those who may not know, follow Geralt of Rivia (played by Henry Cavill on the show), a professional monster hunter who must navigate a medieval-style world where the petty human rulers can be worse than the beasts. The series debuts later this year.

The show itself looks really good, but in interviews, Sapkowski always steals the spotlight. There’s a curmudgeonliness to him that just continually cracks me up. For example, when CD Projekt Red approached him about making video games based on his work, he demanded he be paid a lump sum rather than arranging for a share of the profits, assuming the games would flop. Instead, they were wildly successful and played a huge part in popularizing Sapkowski’s books in the US, which in turn drew the attention of Netflix. But in 2017, Sapkowski claimed that, if anything, his books made the games, and demanded CD Projekt Red give him a share of the video game profits.

He’s taken swipes at other fantasy epics, too, throwing shade at Game of Thrones in 2018 when he told an audience that his job on the Netflix show would be to “make sure that at NO point in the show Ed Sheeran sing,” referring to a little dustup that happened around Thrones when the singer had a cameo in season 7.

I sincerely love how petty the guy is. I hope The Witcher is a success so he can go on talk shows and complain. We could have a breakout star on our hands.

Sapkowski was at it again when speaking to Corriere la Lettura about the show, saying he was certain that The Witcher could equal or even surpass the enormous success of Game of Thrones, according to the translation from Redanian Intelligence. He was also free with his take on A Song of Ice and Fire. “I appreciate the work of George R.R. Martin,” he said. “I like his series, but found his books have too many protagonists. Once I asked him: ‘But why do you kill all those characters?’ ‘Because I like it,’ he replied. I don’t think the readers feel the same way.”

Just imagine if Martin’s readers did like what he was doing: it might have sold 100 million copies instead of a measly 90 million.

I joke, but Sapkowski just brings that out of me. I also like what he said about the influence of Polish folklore on his series. Wait for the end for a chaser about the first Witcher story he wrote, which he submitted for a competition in the magazine Fantastyka:

"Polish literature and mythology exert a very strong influence in all my books. Some elements, unfortunately, are lost in translations. One fairy-tale was about a cobbler who kills a dragon. ‘An impossible undertaking,’ I told myself. ‘I would never succeed. Who would kill monsters?’ And so I created Geralt, a professional monster-hunter. I only got the third place in the competition, the judges were prejudiced, but it went well."

“The judges were prejudiced.” This guy is the best.

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Showrunner Lauren Hissrich was also on hand for the Corriere la Lettura  interview, and had a more measured take on how Game of Thrones has changed the fantasy genre:

"For years, the fantasy genre was the prerogative of the great film productions. Only they had the budgets for famous actors, for shooting stunning action scenes, for having Oscar-winning costumes. Today the fantasy has found a new home in streaming and on TV, so that the public can see those actors, those costumes and those scenes in their homes. The Witcher does all this with a lot of monsters and magic, and it is very original. The other reason for the luck of fantasy on TV is that the public today is wider than before. Fantasy is no longer just for nerds: just think about the great success of Game of Thrones."

Okay, I’m thinking about it. Your move, The Witcher.

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