The Witcher Netflix series, based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, has been met with tons of praise from both fans of the franchise and newcomers alike. While the author was brought on as a creative consultant to keep the show as organically intuned to the source material as possible, he wasn’t as active as he could have been and his reason is simple: he doesn’t like to work too hard.
Sapkowski has had a longstanding and rocky history with his property. When CD Projekt RED adapted it as a video game, he opted out of a continuous revenue deal, instead choosing a one-time small payment because he didn’t think it would do well. Then when it became one of the greatest RPGs of a generation, he changed his tune and that resulted in a – now resolved – legal battle.
Seeing his characters be met with so much success, he didn’t make the same mistake twice regarding money, but it looks like his ‘devil may care’ attitude hasn’t evolved much. In a recent interview with iO9, he mentioned that he made the decision not to be too terribly involved because of the workload that would entail.
When asked how much he was a part of the process, he told the site “Not very much, on my own request. I do not like working too hard or too long. By the way, I do not like working at all. ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone at me.’ John 8:7.”
He added, “For the record: I strongly believe in the freedom of an artist and his artistic expression. I do not interfere and do not impose my views on other artists. I do not insist on anything and do not fight for anything. I advise. When necessary. And asked for.”
He also had a very … honest response to the future of the franchise inquiries: “Allow me to quote Joe Abercrombie, the author whose books are very much to my liking: ‘Life is, basically, fucking shit. Best to keep your expectations low. Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.'”
Welp.
With The Witcher Netflix series season 2 on the way and a whopping 7 seasons planned, it will be interesting to see how his involvement evolves or if he will distance himself more from it all together.
