The Witcher Is Tracking to Be Netflix's Most-Viewed First Season

The live-action adaptation of The Witcher is shaping up to be a bonafide hit for Netflix after the streaming company reported that the Henry Cavill-starring dark fantasy series is on track to become the “biggest season one TV series ever” on Netflix. “Through its first four weeks of release, 76m member households chose to watch this action-packed fantasy, starring Henry Cavill,” Netflix said in its Q4 Earnings Report. Netflix also cited how the premiere of The Witcher “drove up sales of The Witcher books and games around the world, and spawned a viral musical hit.” [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=netflixs-the-witcher-cast-vs-video-game-characters&captions=true"] Following the premiere of The Witcher, Steam player counts for The Witcher 3 reached a record post-launch high. And of course, we can’t forget the impact of ‘Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,’ which has been modded into both The Witcher 3 and Beat Saber. One thing to note is that The Witcher’s viewership success is all according to Netflix which reports viewerships differently than traditional TV, and has even changed how it gauges viewership internally recently. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix no longer counts views as a member account watching at least 70 percent of one episode or film. “Now, it’s touting that viewers ‘chose to watch’ a given title, meaning that member watched for as little as two minutes — ‘long enough to indicate the choice was intentional.’” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/12/20/the-witcher-game-vs-netflix-scene-comparison"] The Witcher is a live-action adaptation based on the fantasy novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series has been adapted into a trilogy of video games by CD Projekt Red. The developer and author recently signed a new deal that gives CD Projekt the right to produce more video games based on The Witcher, though the company is currently busy developing Cyberpunk 2077. IGN’s official review of The Witcher found its multiple timeline structure working against it, but you can check out IGN’s staff review of Witcher here for expanded opinions. You can also read IGN’s review of The Witcher 3 here. The Witcher's second season is set to premiere in 2021. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.