The team behind the upcoming Netflix fantasy series The Witcher has repeatedly brushed off comparisons to HBO’s Game of Thrones, which is understandable, considering both the unrealistic expectations that they might give rise to, as well as the unwanted connection to the critically reviled final season of the HBO series.
Nevertheless, if The Witcher turns out to be a hit for the streaming service, it could end up lasting just as long as the one series that it doesn’t want to be compared to. In SFX magazine issue 320 (via PCGamesN), showrunner Lauren Hissrich revealed that she has already mapped out “seven seasons” of the show, despite the fact that Netflix has yet to even renew The Witcher for a second season (at least, this was true at the time of writing).
“I’ve [mapped out stories] for seven seasons,” Hissrich told SFX. “Right now it’s just about, ‘how do you set up stories that really capture audiences for years at a time?’”
“The worst thing we could do is put all of our energies just into season one, and not be thinking about where these characters can grow to.” But in the violent world of The Witcher, she admits that not everyone will make it to season 7, much less season 2, adding: “I can’t promise you that they’re very much alive.”
Hissrich expressed a similar level of interest in character growth when we spoke to her last week:
What I felt like I could really bring is life to these three main characters, to Geralt, to Yennefer, and to Ciri. Specifically, to grow them up each in their own individual ways, like humans do all over the world. And then sort of bring them together and see how their interactions start shifting and changing each other.
The Witcher
season 1 begins streaming on Netflix on December 20th. If Netflix is confident that the show will attract a large audience, there’s a chance we could see it renewed for at least one more season before it debuts.
