Polish writer and creator of "The Witcher" universe, Andrzej Sapkowski, recently participated in a Q&A session on Reddit, where he spoke about the differences between the literary original and its adaptations.
User Pegasis69 asked: "What is your current opinion on the series and video games? Are you satisfied with the direction they are developing in?"
To this, Sapkowski replied that no adaptation is capable of comparing to the original.
I will say this: there is the original, and there are adaptations. Regardless of their quality, there is neither dependence nor points of contact between the literary original and its adaptations. The original exists on its own — and each adaptation exists on its own. It is impossible to translate words into images without losing something, and therefore there can be no connection between them. Moreover, adaptations are mainly visualizations, that is, turning written words into images. And here it is not even necessary to prove the superiority of the word over the picture — it is obvious. The written word always and unconditionally triumphs over the image. No image — be it animation or anything else — can compare to the power of the word.
Sapkowski has never hidden his skeptical attitude towards adaptations — both the old Polish series and the Netflix version. He has repeatedly commented on the latter with irony and distrust, and after Henry Cavill's departure, he preferred to distance himself from the project altogether.
Nevertheless, "The Witcher" as a franchise continues to develop independently of the author's position. In addition to the television series, a new installment of the game from CD Projekt RED is in development — tentatively referred to as "The Witcher 4". The fourth season of the Netflix show is also in production, where Liam Hemsworth now plays the role of Geralt.
In addition, on September 30, the official Russian edition of Andrzej Sapkowski's new novel, "The Witcher: The Tower of the Swallow", dedicated to Geralt's early years, was released in Russia.