For fans of The Witcher who are concerned about how the fantasy epic ends, the showrunner is assuring them it won’t make the infamous mistake of a certain other fantasy series.
It’s a bit of a shame that the legacy of Game of Thrones is less its impressive run as a great fantasy show ever and more about the final season that’s been slammed by fans. It’s practically become a textbook example of how not to craft the proper finale for a hit series.
Since then, quite a few showrunners have addressed wanting to avoid the “mistakes” that Game of Thrones made over its final year. Now, that list includes The Witcher. Netflix just released season 4 on Thursday, Oct. 30. The fifth and final season already being filmed.
This season is a big one for the series as Liam Hemsworth takes over from the departing Henry Cavill as Geralt. That’s led to a lot of concern from fans about whether the final season can live up to expectations or not.
That question was posted by Dexerto to showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who claimed that contrary to what fans may think, they didn’t feel much pressure on ending the show as they kept to a smart promise.
“No, I think that we lucked out because I said very early on, ‘We’re not going to go past the books.’ We have the ending. And there were certain things – I mean, the books go a little crazy. And I say that with the most deference because I love them. We lean so hardcore into fantasy at the end in wonderful ways that Sapkowski introduced us to. So we knew the stories that we needed to end with. There’s always pressure of something ending, but for us it just felt like an enormous celebration, which is we got to do it – we made it this far.”
How The Witcher can fix Game of Thrones' mistakes
Many Game of Thrones fans will point to a major problem with the series being having to deviate from George R.R. Martin’s works, mainly due to how Martin is infamously late wrapping up his saga. That forced the show’s writers to make up their own finish, which wasn’t well-received.
In contrast, The Witcher’s writers are following the path of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books pretty well, though some may disagree with that assessment. While the franchise also has its video game storyline, the Netflix series prefers to stick to the books and does a fine job mixing up the storylines for viewers.
Season 1 adapted The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny. Season 2 combined A Grain of Truth, Blood of Elves and the first half of Time of Contempt. Season 3 had the rest of Contempt with elements of Blood of Elves and Baptism of Fire. The final two series will adapt the last three books of Sapkowski’s initial nine-book cycle, Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake.
It’s a good move by the showrunners to not try expanding the series with original tales but rather to do their best to adapt Sapkowski’s works. A regular adaptation is challenging enough without throwing in elements that may upset book fans, which occurred with The Wheel of Time, too. Keeping the show to only five seasons also helps to ensure a proper conclusion.
Hissrich is grateful the series has become a success and is able to end on its own terms.
“A lot of TV shows don’t get the chance to do five seasons, and it’s been such a privilege to be part of it from the beginning and to grow with it. I think we all expected to be very sad at the end, and instead we were thrilled because we made it.”
As season 4 of The Witcher continues and season 5 is on the way, fans are thus hopeful this is a fantasy series that sticks the landing well.
The Witcher season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.