Speaking from our own experience and this site's two-decade existence, talking to creators of major franchises is an exercise in trying to draw out honesty from them.
Obviously, when journalists get a chance to talk to these people, there's very often a back and forth between the answers that they want to give you and the honest appraisal of the situation. However, in this interview with io9, Andrezj Sapkowski - the author and creator of 'The Witcher' - didn't hold back.
It's not that he disparaged his own work, or gave the entire show both barrels or something. Quite the opposite, in fact. What comes across in the interview - and we'd really recommend you read io9's full interview, not just these highlights - is that the man has so little time for bullshit and gave hard, honest answers.
Maybe it's just when you hit a certain age, you stop dealing with it. Who knows? For example, when asked what he thought was best translated from page to screen, Sapkowski answered with this - "My name appears in the credits. I cannot praise the show. It wouldn’t be decent."
So, when the opposite was asked, what did he come back with? "I would have to be an idiot to say. My name appears in the credits."
Oh, it didn't end there either. He threw out any comparison between video games and TV shows, arguing that it's like comparing "spaghetti carbonara with a bicycle", but the true nugget of the interview came when he was asked how he felt about his books getting 500,000 prints based off the success of the Netflix show.
"How do you expect I answer this question? That I despaired? Shed tears? Considered suicide? No sir. My feelings were rather obvious and not excessively complex."
This needs to be a stock answer from now on.
