If you were initially confused by The Witcher's timeline, you probably weren't alone. According to the showrunner, Lauren S. Hissrich, however, the idea of telling these stories always revolved around the "controversial" idea of separate timelines eventually being threaded together. Hissrich has now explained how her initial pitch to Netflix leaned into the concept of a fragmented story -- one she had faith that fans and audiences were savvy enough to follow.
"... I sat in a Netflix conference room and pitched them what would eventually become the pilot of The Witcher," Hissrich explained in a Reddit post. "I'd been grappling for a few months about how to best tell the stories of Geralt, Yen, and Ciri, and then I had a (controversial) idea: tell them in three separate timelines over the first season. That was November 29, 2017. I'm attaching the initial document I wrote up for that pitch."
She continued, "Some things have changed. For instance, after searching all over the world for a 12-year-old Ciri -- and then realizing that a lot of her scenes were at night, for which filming is highly restricted for minors -- we aged that character up. Yennefer, too, was originally written into the pilot -- until I realized I'd written a feature-length film, not an hour-long show. The biggest shift was that originally, I'd intended to keep it a secret that Ciri was the child Geralt was destined to be with, for at least a few episodes -- we even shot the pilot that way! But in editorial, we realized that the timelines were enough of a mystery, we didn't need to keep adding more and more veils. I fought against the change for a while, but in retrospect, it was a good decision. But a lot hasn't changed. Most importantly, the heart of the show. It's so interesting to go back and see that we were passionate about interweaving of Geralt's, Yennefer's, and Ciri's stories since the very beginning, and that we managed to keep it alive."
Hissrich provided fans with a unique behind-the-scenes look at her approach and mindset, uploading a detailed breakdown of her vision of The Witcher, wherein she highlights different character arcs, relationships and how they all eventually intertwine across the series' eight episodes. Peppered throughout are her enthusiastic takeaways and thoughts on the multi-layered narrative, granting fans special insight into the creative process behind the show.
The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Ciri and Joey Batey as Jaskier. Season 1 is now available on Netflix.