The Witcher showrunner explains why the show has multiple timelines

The Witcher is a hit! The new Netflix show, an adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels, is in high demand with viewers, and a second season has already been ordered. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich is soaking it up on Twitter:

The story of The Witcher is pretty straightforward: Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) is a professional monster hunter who wanders the Continent plying his trade and eventually getting caught up in a war with a neighboring nation. We also get to know the strong-willed sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and the wayward princess Ciri (Freya Allan).

But the way the story is told is potentially confusing. At the start of the series, we follow these characters spread across three different timelines, although it’s not immediately clear that’s what’s happening. “What was important to me is starting off and making sure that we understood who Geralt was and who Ciri was, and then, in Episode 2, who Yennefer was,” Hissirch explained to TheWrap. “And one of our early decisions we made was actually just to introduce Geralt and Ciri in Episode 1 and to hold Yennefer for Episode 2 for that exact reason. There’s only so much you can take in. And I want to make sure that what I call the ‘bells and whistles of fantasy’ — the monsters and the magic and the violence and battles and sexuality — all of those things we expect from high fantasy, that those don’t take up the room of actual character development. We need to let the characters live and breathe in this world a little bit. That was one of the reasons we structured the story that way.”

"There’s a couple of hints in the first episode that we’ve got some interesting things happening with time, but unless you’re paying a lot of attention or know what you’re looking for, they could easily pass you as little bits of dialogue. Because I didn’t want to force a viewer, especially a new fan, to be working that hard, I just want them to enjoy the first episode. It’s sort of as if you’re thrown into the deep end already with all the characters and all the places, I didn’t want to have to enforce that they were working on different timelines, too."

“To me, it becomes really evident, obviously, by Episode 4,” Hissrich continued. “This is the place where I think all audiences will go, ‘Oh my god. OK, now this is making a little bit more sense,’ where Queen Calanthe — who we see kill herself in Episode 1 — is younger and back to life in Episode 4. And hopefully, god, if I was watching this, I would want to go back to the beginning and see how they’ve been telling me this from the beginning. And I hope people will go back and rewatch and see what other little Easter eggs are planted in there.”

Image: The Witcher/Netflix

Hissrich is right that she and her team left little hints in the first few episodes that clue attentive viewers in to the timeline shenanigans, but I wasn’t a fan of the time jumping. Why should viewers have to wait until Episode 4 to figure out what’s going on? I also thought it robbed moments like Calanthe’s death of the power they would have had if we’d gotten to know her better beforehand.

But again, the show’s a hit, so clearly the approach wasn’t a deal-breaker for people. Still, I was happy when the timelines lined up by the end of the season, and hope that continues. I think it will. The books Hissrich and company were adapting for this season — The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny — are more short story collections than novels. The next bunch of books are more straightforward, so all the characters should now be on the same page.

As for when we’ll get to see the further adventures of Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, that has yet to be determined, but production could start as early as February. We’ll be crossing our fingers!

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