One of this year's biggest videogame hits has been The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt. The latest instalment in the Polish franchise that began with Andrzej Sapkowski's stories and novels is still releasing expansion packs months after its release. And having first been announced as in development last year by animator Tomasz Baginski, The Witcher is now getting closer to a new film adaptation. The Sean Daniel Company, also behind the new Ben-Hur, have joined forces with Baginski's Platige Films to get the live-action project moving.
Sapkowski began writing the first Witcher stories for Polish magazines in the 1980s. They were first anthologised in 1992, and the author began his novel series with Blood Of Elves in 1994. English translations started arriving in 2007, coinciding with the release of the first action-RPG game adaptation on PC. The second game, Assassins Of Kings, arrived for PC and XBox 360 in 2011, and Wild Hunt hit XBox One, PS4 and PC this year to pretty much universal acclaim.
A previous attempt at a TV adaptation - also cut down and released theatrically - happened in 2002, but Sapkowski disowned it. Hopefully he'll be happier with whatever comes next. Baginski has been close to the property for some time, having directed cinematic scenes for the games. He's also made short films and commercials, including the amazing promo for the forthcoming game Cyberpunk 2077 (see below).
"The hero created by Sapkowski, Geralt The Witcher, is a monster hunter with superhuman abilities," reads the release from Baginski's company. "He is a creature suspended between two worlds – the human and the magical. The film will be an introduction to The Witcher’s world and is planned to be the beginning of a series. Thania St. John, an experienced Hollywood scriptwriter, author of such television productions as Grimm, Chicago Fire and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, is working on the script as well as on its film and television continuation."
Big plans then - and a short timeframe. We're told the first Witcher film will have its world premiere in 2017.