Tomasz Bagiński, illustrator, animator and director of Platige Images spoke with Nikola Bochyńska of Wirtualnemedia.pl about working on "The Witcher", working with Andrzej Sapkowski, and how it is created for Netflix. Along with being an executive producer, Bagiński will also direct selected episodes of the series.
(The original article is in Polish, so below we have done our best to translate pieces for English speaking fans)
“The Witcher,” based on the world created by Andrzej Sapkowski, will be based on eight volumes of "Sagas about the Witcher". Mainly shot in Eastern Europe, focusing on a “Slavic” tone, Baginski had this to say:
Everyone in the band wants the series to be Eastern European, Slavic. That it would not be a typical American series. How will it actually be - time will show, it will verify creative decisions. Remember that it is teamwork, really good ideas appear from different sides, places, cultures. I am one of the team members. We all work on one project.
When the announcement of the upcoming Netflix series was announced, there was a mix of support and harsh blowback. To Baginski, this came as no surprise, but had this to say about Lauren S. Hissrich:
It's part of this profession, the position it's in. There is nothing to complain about. There is also a lot of support and it is not surprising, because Lauren is a great expert. I can only praise her approach to work.
The interview also reveals that Sapkowski is closely involved with the shows creation, and they work together to create an ending that will remain a secret to fans until the episode release:
We meet quite often, several times a year. During the meetings, Andrew gets information about what is going on with the show, has a chance to look at the emerging scenario. How we work together - I do not want to betray the end. This is our sweet secret with Mr. Andrzej. It participates in the process of really the extent to which he wants. It all depends on him.
While fans all over the world are closely watching the progress of “The Witcher,” it seems that the team working on the show are determined to remain faithful to the original stories. As Baginski said, there will be a lot of changes from now until launch, especially when working with different countries and cultures.
What are your thoughts on the show’s progress? Let us know what you think in the comments below, in the forum, or on our poll!
