Witcher fans Seth Lockhart (moderator), Rachel Carr, Rebecca Fant, and J.F. Lewis discussed their takes on the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher during the panel “Dragon Con High Fantasy Track presents The Witcher Season One” at 7PM Friday on the Dragon Con High Fantasy YouTube channel. The panelists came to the franchise from different adaptations. Lockhart, Carr, and Lewis admitted to playing an unhealthy amount of video games, including The Witcher (but hey, who isn’t bingeing on something these days?). Fant read the books and only watched others play the game. Their perspectives, however, were surprisingly similar.
When asked about their favorite scene in the TV adaptation, Fant immediately choose episode two because of the music (“Toss a Coin to Your Witcher”), the montage, and the introduction of her favorite character, Yennefer. By that point, Fant was “vibing with the whole thing.” Lewis enjoyed the scenes where Geralt gets shown up and drops the F-bomb. And when Yennefer gets the upper hand in a conversation, reminiscent of the letter sequence in the novels. For her favorite, Carr chose the bath scene, and not only because it was, as she wryly put it, “aesthetically pleasing.” With a knowing smile, she added, “If you’ve played the game, you know what you’ve done.”
Initially, the panelists had been worried about how the costumers could manage to make ex-superman Henry Cavill look grungy enough to be Geralt. They were surprised and pleased by the result. But Yennefer’s rope dress? No. Who would wear something like that to a battle?
One problem Lockhart found with the series was the melding of three different timelines, which confused some people who were unfamiliar with the franchise. He had to explain the time-jumps to friends. (Give yourselves a break, newbies. You were not alone.) The timeline gets clearer by the third episode, and the panelists predict it will be more linear in season two now that some of the backstory has been developed.
What changes might we expect to see in the second season? It’s hard to tell. Carr noted that adaptations have to be different to accomplish the same thing in a different medium. For example, they needed to introduce Siri earlier or viewers would have wondered why a main character was introduced so much later than the others. Also, Lockhart noted, since Siri was a popular character in the games, it makes sense that she was introduced early, even if it meant some confusion of timelines.
As for what may be in store, there are rumors that Jason Mamoa will be in season 2. Lockhart thinks he may be young Vesemir, Geralt’s trainer. Carr said she doesn’t care who he is, “as long as he’s in a bath.” The panelists would love to see leshen forest spirits, bog hags, crones (particularly the bee-faced one), and Vodyanoy sea monsters. Maybe they could drag Jason Mamoa into the water, Carr quipped.
Whatever lies in store for season two, we may have a long wait due to the pandemic. In the meantime, Carr wondered, how do you get “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” out of your head? “Why would you want to?” Lewis said. “Lean into it!”
