There are plenty of stereotypes about the treatment of writers in Hollywood. “The Witcher” creator Andrzej Sapkowski became all too familiar with them when visiting the set of the Netflix series based on his fantasy novels.
Speaking in an interview with the YouTube channel Cerealkillerz (via Gamespot) at Vienna Comic Con, the Polish author shared that he visited the set of the TV show during production and floated some input for the series. Without specifying what his ideas were, Sapkowski says that none of them ended up being used.
“The set was tremendous. Tremendous … I gave them some ideas but they never listened to me,” the author said, laughing it off. “It’s normal. ‘Who’s this? It’s a writer. It’s nobody.'”
In some ways, it wasn’t an unfamiliar experience for Sapkowski. The writer says that the various adaptations of his work — which include a hit video game series by Polish developer CD Projekt Red — have all been “strange” to see come to fruition.
“My raw material when I work is only letters. I don’t describe pictures. I don’t see any pictures. I use the letters only because I know my reader will see the letters only,” Sapkowski said. “I look at these and say, ‘Whoa! This is the way they picture it. Interesting!’ Sometimes it’s very nice for me, sympathetic. Sometimes it isn’t. But I will not elaborate.”
Sapkowski published the original “The Witcher” in 1990. Since then, he has published eight more novels set within the same fantasy universe. He is currently writing a tenth entry.
Netflix is working on a fourth season of “The Witcher” without star Henry Cavill. The actor announced his exit from the series prior to the Season 3 premiere. Liam Hemsworth is set to take over the role of Geralt of Rivia.
