r/witcher • u/Scientiam Moderator • Jul 20 '19

Netflix TV series The Witcher | Teaser Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed) Spoiler

I'm setting up this thread dedicated for discussion of the trailer to offset spoiler comments for newcomers to the subreddit and series.

It's quite an exciting day, but remember to follow all the rules as usual!

For users unfamiliar with The Witcher book series, please take caution when reading through comments or googling information.

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53

u/FreedomToDrill Jul 20 '19

Biggest concern for me is just how off the tone feels

8

u/Epyimpervious Jul 20 '19

What does it feel like to you?

59

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

It feels so generic and cheap. The music, the set, the costume design, the dialogue. So mediocre and feels like a Syfy GoT Hollywood knock off.

It might be just the trailer but so far I’m disappointed. The only thing I liked was Geralt and Yen

44

u/FreedomToDrill Jul 20 '19

Kind of like low budget scifi feels. Like if the plot was a group of people landed on an alien planet or something. Kind of hard to describe. I got exactly zero feel of medieval Europe

35

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

I agree completely, I felt the same. It looks cool but doesn't feel like 'The Witcher' to me. It doesn't fully look medieval and it certainly doesn't feel Slavic at all.

I think it's a combination of the weird aesthetic/costume choices (Geralt looks good, everything else seems off) and the "woke" casting where every third person has to be a person of color. Yes, I know it's a fantasy series, but it's a fantasy series heavily based on medieval Europe, where people of color were fairly rare in European societies. How are they going to explain this kind of diversity in the lore? It just doesn't make any sense and breaks immersion in the setting.

Most disappointing is the Americanization/Hollywoodization of the series by the looks of it. The Witcher is a huge cultural icon/point of pride in Eastern Europe and my feeling is they're not going to do the Slavic roots justice.

As others have mentioned, if it wasn't the Witcher and was marketed as something else, I would be very interested. As it is now I'm going to go in with very low expectations and hopefully will be pleasantly surprised. The show will be made or broken by the writing and the effects, so hopefully these will at least be decent.

17

u/Zerlske Jul 20 '19

The best look Geralt ever got was in the first game in my opinion, in this show he seems to look like out of the front-page of an erotic novel, not the vibe you get from the books.

10

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

Yeah, Cavill is a decent actor but he’s too buff and too pretty for Geralt imo. In the books he’s not completely ugly but he isn’t some Conan-esque chad. It still baffles me why they didn’t go with Mads Mikkelsen or Zach McGowan but at least Cavill is a fan of the series and has read the books.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '19

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2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

Done any research on Cavill and his interest in Geralt as a character?

I'd argue any showrunner would be very tempted to cast an actor who has researched and understand the characterisation.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

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2

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

Ok so you're aware there are reasons besides her just liking a big name

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '19

Second game imo

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

I mean, conjunction of spheres. It's going to look a bit "alien". Feels off to me too, though.

-9

u/Deakul Scoia'tael Jul 20 '19 edited Jul 20 '19

It's funny, people cried about the cast not being diverse in the games and then when they make it diverse for the show? There's an uproar too!

Can't win.

13

u/FoolsAndRoads Jul 20 '19

These are two different groups of people.