Tomek Baginski, executive producer on Netflix‘s The Witcher, has blamed the series’ simplified plot on American audiences’ inability to follow complex, nuanced storylines.
Speaking to Polish outlet Wyborcza, Baginski explained why the TV series had changed several plot points from Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.
“There are a lot of understandable reasons why controversial decisions are made, but the viewer does not have this context, so sometimes it hurts because something was better in the book,” said Baginski.
The producer singled out Western audiences specifically, reflecting on his previous attempt to create Hardkor 44, a depiction of the Warsaw Uprising that ultimately never got made.
“[I] tried to explain: there was an uprising against Germany, but the Russians were across the river, and on the German side there were also soldiers from Hungary or Ukraine,” he recalled. “For Americans, it was completely incomprehensible, too complicated, because they grew up in a different historical context, where everything was arranged: America is always good, the rest are the bad guys. And there are no complications.”
Baginski went on to state that plot simplifications a “necessary” when “a series is made for a huge mass of viewers, with different experiences, from different parts of the world, and a large part of them are Americans”.
The producer described this apparent need to simplify plots as “painful”, before adding: “The higher level of nuance and complexity will have a smaller range, it won’t reach people.”
Baginski made similar comments in a separate interview last year. Discussing the second season of The Witcher on YouTube channel Imponderabilia, the producer took aim at social media sites such as TikTok. “When it comes to shows, the younger the public is, the logic of the plot is less significant,” he said.
Season three of The Witcher, which will be Henry Cavill’s last, is now streaming on Netflix.
