Adaptations are an extremely old practice in the entertainment world. From literature to novels to comic books; the archives are full of numerous sources that lend themselves to recreation. More often than not, the success of an on-screen rendition can heavily depend on how closely it replicates the original story and characters. Having said that, not many bestow the source material with respect. Recently, some writers from Netflix’s The Witcher were accused of mocking the original books.

In the same vein, a few days ago, authors George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman also expressed their disdain towards showrunners/filmmakers who do not do justice to the source. They even delved into the importance of making faithful recreations.

Amid The Witcher writers’ room Exposé, Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin discuss honoring the source material

Starring Henry Cavill as the titular character, Netflix’s The Witcher is well-loved and a massive success. The fantasy series is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s six-volume novel series of the same name. Recently, Beau DeMayo, a writer and producer of the Netflix series, unmasked its writers’ room. According to him, some writers disliked and even mocked the source material. DeMayo termed this behavior as a “recipe for disaster and bad morale.”

Veteran authors George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman also mirrored DeMayo’s sentiments. On Thursday, October 27, Gaiman and Martin appeared at New Your City’s Symphony space together. Martin spoke about a “controversial” issue in Hollywood. He expressed that the industry has an “obligation to be faithful to the written material.”

“There’s this phrase that goes around: ‘I’m going to make it my own.’ I hate that phrase,” stated the Song of Ice and Fire writer.

He then passed on the mantle to the American Gods writer Neil Gaiman. As Gaiman agreed with Martin, he even narrated his own experience with The Sandman.

“I spent 30 years watching people make ‘Sandman’ their own. And some of those people hadn’t even read ‘Sandman’ to make it their own. They’d just flipped through a few comics or something,” shared Gaiman.

After rejoicing over Netflix’s rendition of The Sandman and chanting for season 2, George R. R. Martin further elaborated his point about source materials. He explained how some changes are necessary or “legitimate” owing to the change in medium or budget constraints. Having said that, adding a new character with no value addition just for the sake of pandering to a “high concept” is moronic, according to Martin.

Adaptations of works by Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin

Martin and Gaiman have been on both sides of the spectrum. While Game of Thrones started off as a pure adaptation, the show lost the plot and deteriorated in quality in the last couple of seasons. His latest show, House of the Dragon, reportedly follows the book to a T. For Gaiman, The Sandman was a huge success story owing to his involvement. However, the fantastical comedy Lucifer, though based on his characters, was quite far away from the source. 

Do you agree with Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin? Let us know in the comments. Meanwhile, you can watch The Witcher streaming on Netflix.