But when it comes to actors, it is the two young actresses who really stand out: Anya Chalotra, who plays Yennefer, and Freya Allan as Ciri. Thanks to their charisma and on-screen energy, The Witcher turns out to be something more than just a story about male adventures, warriors and knights.
No politics
Even before the premiere, Netflix’s series was treated by the media as the streaming platform’s response to HBO’s Game of Thrones. It’s no coincidence that Alik Sakharov was the director of the formative pilot (as well as two other episodes) – he also happened to have directed four episodes of HBO’s smash hit. It’s impossible not to try and compare the two shows – both are adaptations of huge book series set in a fantasy universe reminiscent of the Middle Ages. And yet, The Witcher turns out to be an entirely different entity than the adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novels.
While in Game of Thrones it was politics and its dirty mechanisms that pushed the plot forward, in The Witcher adventure leads the way. The screenwriters follow the hero, waiting with bated breath as he clashes with his opponents, mission after mission, following his unusual encounters along the way. Politics recede into the background. And that is really a shame because politics were also key in Sapkowski’s world.
Although the writer stubbornly swore that he was but a literary craftsman providing entertainment, in fact, he wrote about the nature of power and the tragedy of war. In addition to terrifying creatures and tough warriors, the other heroes of his stories were nationalism, racism and political cynicism. The Netflix version seems to leave all but a trace of these motifs. Read by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, The Witcher turns out to primarily be a story about male adventure and emerging female identities. And although casual viewers will certainly be pleased, for true White Wolf fans the series may be too naive and flat.
- The Witcher, prod. Netflix, 2019. Showrunner: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. Executive producer: Tomasz Bagiński. Cast: Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, Lars Mikkelsen, Björna Hlynura Haraldsson, Eamon Farren. Premiere: 20th December 2019.