The Witcher American TV Series Producer: Are You Reassured Now? Absolutely Respecting the Polish Roots

As Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher finally unveiled its cast, it marks the start of production on the series. As the project moves forward, the show's operator Lauren S. Hissrich also reiterated in a recent interview that she will respect and maintain the Polish cultural roots of The Witcher series.

There were many "leaked" news earlier that the role of Ciri would be played by people of color and ethnic minorities, which led to most netizens, including the Polish community, opposing this decision. This controversy also caused Lauren S. Hissrich to be criticized and temporarily quit social media. However, Hissrich said in an interview recently that she would respect the cultural background of the novel.

“One of the things I felt most strongly about was that people were afraid that we were going to strip The Witcher of its cultural context and erase its Slavic roots, which are something that the Polish people are very proud of,” she said. “That’s absolutely true. And what I’ve always wanted to do is bring these Slavic stories to a global audience.”

Although changing the cast of characters in an adaptation is nothing new (the Harry Potter stage play, for example, cast a black actress to play Hermione), the massive number of fans of the "Witcher" novels immediately reacted and expressed dissatisfaction to the rumor. The series is adapted from the original novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, rather than the game series by CD Projekt RED - although the latter has greatly expanded the brand's popularity.

Lauren S. Hissrich also said earlier that she would work closely with the original author, and that the author would personally participate in all major decisions - similar to the creative process of "Game of Thrones".