Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) - a white-haired, cat-eyed, spell-casting vagabond who carries two swords, and is quick and deadly with both of them - is squaring off against some kind of giant spider monster we’ll later discover is called a kikimora. Given the complexity of The Witcher’s world, it’s probably for the best that the show’s actual introduction is so simple. Good or bad, this show will require the kind of patience that cancel-happy Netflix hasn’t recently seemed inclined to give (which is why it’s a hopeful sign that it’s already green-lit a second season).įor better or worse, “The End’s Beginning” is surprisingly light on exposition, throwing a bunch of weird-sounding fantasy names at the audience and expecting us to keep up. My point? It’s rare that a TV show knocks it out of the park with its first episode - but it’s especially tricky for a fantasy show like Netflix’s own attempt at the “next Game of Thrones,” The Witcher, which has to introduce a bunch of characters and an entire fantasy world with its own history and rules and politics. Even the Game of Thrones premiere that did finally air - while reportedly much improved - isn’t exactly the show’s finest hour, with reams of clunky exposition designed to define the boundaries of a whole sprawling world for an audience that will likely have no context for it. The show’s original pilot was famously disastrous, requiring extensive recasting and reshoots just to be comprehensible to audiences. LeGuin’s Earthsea, Patrick Rothfuss’s The Kingkiller Chronicle, and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time have all been snapped up with an eye toward a splashy debut on the small screen.īut Game of Thrones wasn’t always Game of Thrones. It’s why Amazon paid a truly absurd amount of money for Lord of the Rings why HBO developed four distinct Game of Thrones spinoffs before picking one and why the rights of properties like Ursula K.
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