House of the Dragon Season 2 is enjoying quite the success now, still being the premiere epic fantasy drama on screen. While nowhere close to the viewership of the first season (if reports are to be believed) the show is still better made than some other adaptations, such as Netflix’s The Witcher.
Fans of The Witcher feel slighted by Netflix, as the fandom has begun lamenting the state of the show once again, as House of the Dragon airs, with HBO backing the show. It is a sentiment shared by a decent-sized chunk of the fandom, that The Witcher would have fared much better in the hands of HBO, rather than facing the problems that it did with Netflix.
Fans say that Netflix has made The Witcher a lesser property
Fans of The Witcher were told by Beau DeMayo of X-Men ’97 fame that there were some in the writer’s room for the show that despised the source material. In the Instagram live, he said (via IGN):
I’ve been on show – namely Witcher – where some of the writers were not or actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material). It’s a recipe for disaster and bad morale. Fandom as a litmus test checks egos, and makes all the long nights worth it. You have to respect the work before you’re allowed to add to its legacy.
Given that this was the case for Netflix, along with a slew of other issues in production (such as the lead actor of the show quitting, among others), fans have been wishing that the show was helmed by a different production house altogether, one that was adept at handling the source material, such as HBO.
While HBO might have also delivered an adaptation of the books/games that would not have sat well with fans, the Game of Thrones production house would definitely have made sure not to commit the blunders that Netflix had, which could have resulted in better content overall anyway.
Fans are particularly afraid about the possibility of another studio picking the show up after it ends
Often when production houses fail at adapting beloved properties, audiences cannot wait for better hands to come along and mold the property into the IP giant that it is expected to be.
With The Witcher, Season 4 will be the penultimate season for the show. The reduced episode order might be because of how badly the adaptation has been working with fans, causing Netflix to go back on its initial seven-season commitment.
It will have to be a while after the last season of the show has aired, before another production house can try to make a more faithful adaptation. However, there is also the fact that Netflix is keen on expanding the show’s world with animated features and subsequent shows, which might not be what fans desire.
The Witcher can be streamed on Netflix
House of the Dragon is currently playing on Max
