Netflix says Witcher tracking to be its biggest season 1 TV series ever

Netflix says its live action Witcher series is on target to become its biggest debut season for a TV show to date.

76 million member households “chose to watch” the fantasy show In the four weeks following its December 20 release, according to Netflix.

By this, it means “chose to watch and did watch for at least 2 minutes — long enough to indicate the choice was intentional.”

“As a testament to how our hit content can penetrate the global zeitgeist and influence popular culture, the show’s launch drove up sales of The Witcher books and games around the world, and spawned a viral musical hit,” Netflix said.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also said The Witcher is a “massive new franchise that we’ll develop season after season” during a fourth quarter earnings video interview on Tuesday (via The Verge).

The company recently confirmed that The Witcher season 2 will begin production in London early in 2020, ahead of a planned debut in 2021.

Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has said she’s mapped out stories for seven seasons that will take the franchise in a different direction to CD Projekt’s game series, which has helped popularise The Witcher with over 40 million sales across three titles.

Update: Netflix announced on Wednesday that it’s making a Witcher anime film from the team behind the show, including Hissrich and writer Beau DeMayo.

It tweeted: “The rumors are true, a new Witcher story is in the works! The anime film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, will take us back to a new threat facing the Continent.”