When it comes to adapting supernatural beings for screen, there are a few tropes that seem to be no-brainers: witches and spell books, werewolves and the moon, vampires and blood. When it came to adapting Deborah Harkness’ book series A Discovery of Witches, star Matthew Goode breaks down some of the ways that the AMC show deviated from the book, including just how little blood was synonymous with the vampires in the show. When talking with Josh Horowitz on his podcast Happy Sad Confused, Goode said he’s approached with both criticism and praise about the adaptation of the acclaimed Deborah Harkness series. He tells Horowitz that when he’s asked about the show, it’s usually about why they dialed things back (though make no mistake, it’s still there, vampires drinking blood). For Goode, he’s with the fans on this one, just as curious about the editorial change.
“I’m with them. I was like, listen, I found it curious too, but it’s above my pay grade. I think it was a decision made by Sky. And you get on with it. And maybe it’s because they wanted it to be multi-generational, you know, which would make sense. There’s not a lot of swearing in it. So maybe they wanted the younger kids not to be put off. And who knows? Who knows?”
What Other Changes Were Made from Book to Screen in ‘A Discovery of Witches’?
The dependence vampires had on blood was shown much less, a deviation from the books where Matthew at one point almost appears emaciated because he’s abstaining from his more animalistic instincts. There were also other editorial changes, as par for the course of any book-to-screen adaptation. A strength for the 87% Rotten Tomatoes series is that author Deborah Harkness served as an executive producer on the project and not only that, but based on behind-the-scenes social media happenings, that title was taken seriously. Harkness, when asked if the television series would ever continue (since there are now two books beyond the original trilogy the show covers the events of) she said “I can write books or make TV. Not both. I am choosing to write.” further implying that if the series would ever continue she’d want her hands in it.
The series, led by Goode and Teresa Palmer as Matthew Clairmont and Diana Bishop, had several other changes. Some of the changes had to do with the fact that the books were almost always from Diana’s point of view, and the third-person narrative allowed for plot points to be introduced earlier, which overall enriched the narrative. Some of the other changes included things that make more sense narratively, like Sarah Bishop (Alex Kingston) being the one to defeat Peter Knox (Owen Teale), than the original events of the book.
