Netflix’sThe Witcherhit the Internet hard when it came out last December, and fervor for the show has seemingly not died down even with the turn of the decade.A second season ofThe Witcheris already in development for 2021, and showrunner Lauren Hissrich has been actively discussing some of what fans can expect to see during a Reddit AMA — including more queer representation like in the original books.
Hissrich, whose credits as an Executive Producer also include streaming shows likeThe Umbrella Academyand Marvel’sDaredevil, opened her AMA on the r/wiedzmin subreddit (a bilingual English and Polish forum dedicated to discussingThe Witcheruniverse in all its incarnations) January 6.
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Among the questions she received was from Reddit user dracapis about whether season two would have any “queer representation,” to which Hissrich said, “One of my favorite things about the books is that they are full of subversion. Yes, we’re gonna represent.”
It was not the only question on diversity that Hissrich fielded, as one coming from JagerJack7 wanted to know why fictional races in the show were seen with “human ethnic and racial differences,” rather than diversifying by culture like HBO’sGame of Thrones(from which a futureWitchercast member may have been poached).
Hissrich said there were long conversations with Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the original books which saw a huge uptick in popularity following the Netflix show’s premiere, on the subject. They essentially came to the decision that “racism” in fantasy worlds is experienced by species rather than skin color, so in a “big and diverse” real world it made sense to hire a range of people because folks in-universe would care more about markers like horns.
The AMA also broached deep-cut subjects about the construction of the show and characters within it, such as one user asking why Joey Batey’s Jaskier was not used as more of a narrator, or another asking about how they depicted the Nilfgaard — though that question specifically avoided mentioning their armor design,which is a point of contention Hissrich has previously addressed.
Even beyond the AMA, Hissrich has been incredibly active with fans ofThe Witcherseason one; be it answering questions about the removal of Jaskier’s hat orinteracting withWitchercrossover memes on Twitter.
That kind of enthusiasm from the crew behindThe Witcher— both Hissrich and leading star Henry Cavill,who posted a video on Instagram discussing impendingWitcherpre-production— bodes well for the future of this popular Netflix series. Not only is there a lot more monster hunting fun just on the horizon, but chances are that fun will be more refined thanks to the input of dedicated fans.
