Aside from the rather vague timeline mechanics employed in the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher series the show seemingly went off without a hitch, garnering praise from both fans of the original book series and the video game franchise by CD Projekt RED. It seems that the production of the first season didn’t go quite as smoothly, though, with director Alik Sakharov departing after directing only one episode. Now, the director has opened up about the ‘why’ behind his departure.

A few weeks ago, Witcher site Redanian Intelligence reached out to showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich about why Alik Sakharov departed from The Witcher series. While Hissrich didn’t go into detail, she did say that it was a mutual decision made “based on the episodes we did together,” and that the vision of the show “definitely owes much to him.”

Alik was an amazing partner and is an amazing friend, without whom this show never would have been the success it is. We made the decision mutually — and privately — based on the episodes we did together. To this day, the vision of the show definitely owes much to him. ❤️

— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) September 2, 2020

Just a few days prior, director Alik Sakharov opened up about his experience on the set of The Witcher to Forbes Russia, revealing that it was a matter of differing perceptions and visions of what The Witcher should be versus how other key members of the crew envisioned it. “You see, in my perception, Eastern European literature has a completely different pace,” Sakharov replied upon being asked why he looked back on his work of the show so critically. It is no coincidence that Andrzej Sapkowski has so many storylines and characters.”

The project management set the task to set the film adaptation at a fighting pace, fill it with colorful special effects – this is their vision. My view was very different, and I tried to convey it to them, giving my arguments. Unfortunately, I was not considered convincing enough and I decided to leave the project.”

While things unfortunately didn’t go well enough for Sakharov to stick around, he later admitted that he’s been a big fan of Henry Cavill’s work as Geralt of Rivia. “Henry Cavill is the best in The Witcher, in my opinion. An absolute hit in the role. Moreover, he is an actor with a plastic psyche, able to hear and learn. I sincerely hope that he has many interesting and bright projects ahead.”

Season One of Netflix’s The Witcher series is currently available on the streaming platform, with Season Two now in development.

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