Andrzej Sapkowski once again reminded of his skeptical attitude towards adaptations and games based on his own universe.
Polish writer and creator of "The Witcher" universe, Andrzej Sapkowski, recently participated in a question and answer session on Reddit, where he spoke about the differences between the literary original and its adaptations.
User Pegasis69 asked: "What is your opinion about the series and video games now? Are you satisfied with the direction in which they are developing?"
To this, Sapkowski replied that no adaptation can compare 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 you don’t even need 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 version from Netflix. 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 regardless of the author's position. In addition to the television series, a new part of the game from CD Projekt RED is in development — tentatively referred to as "The Witcher 4". The fourth season of the show from Netflix 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, "Ведьмак: Перекрёсток воронов", dedicated to Geralt's young years, was released in Russia.
