The Witcher's Joey Batey on Jaskier's gay romance, final scenes with Henry Cavill and "brave" finale

[@silvertales]

Regardless of what you think of the show’s direction and diversion from the original material, Joey is such an insightful, delightful interview. He’s always so beautifully appreciative of his cast mates and working with them.

[@kjh4496]

Don’t listen to all the toxic idiots crying about the show. Most of them are lying about knowing the source material and the other half are mad that season 3 was actually good.

[@zireael-8942]

i love interviews with Joey, the way he's answering to every question is very inspiring. he's so humble. also, he's always saying lovely things about his cast mates and that's so nice of him too!! as a viewer we may forget that the actors are actually very talented and he's the one who reminds us of that. would like to talk to him for an hour or two one day

[@liaistotallyfine]

Joey calling Ciri Jaskier's adopted niece just made my day. I love the connection their characters have

[@nikharagrawal5808]

Wow, the showrunners tried to put Jaskier in a fight scene, just amazing. Thank God the actors are invested in the characters and are able to point out things that are not in the spirit of some character.

[@nadeen3157]

I love seeing Joey interviews and how passionate he is about this

[@bemused_writer]

This was a lovely interview. Some really great questions and insight on the show. (^^)

[@crispyliza7050]

I love him and Jaskier

[@cathytrottier8944]

There's no way you can't kinda love jaskier. Thank you Joey, you're doing a great job.

[@justme.l7838]

what an amazing interview! great questions and very enjoyable overall ✨

[@annapeacock5202]

Lovely interview, thank you for asking such insightful questions! ❤

[@NkiePierre]

one character they were suppose to include in this Serie was Letho. I don't know why they didn't think about including him. gush

[@kjh4496]

He isn’t a book character, he was created for the Witcher 2.

[@NkiePierre]

@@kjh4496 Letho is found in Witcher 3 game too not only witcher 2. Remember that witcher 2 and witcher 3 games have different options. On one hand Geralt killed letho but on the other version Geralt didn't

[@TARDIS75]

Awesome! so glad they took the character down that path!

[@Gardenofden]

Same!! Such a great development, love him!!

[@command3rcodybrickfilms266]

It’s not good.

[@smushles19]

Love Joey :)

[@emokeywoozworld3271]

Love Joey 😍🥰🥰

[@jesvekom22]

I really love now jaskier character have more deep

[@OGslays]

You can tell it made him insecure and uncomfortable that they forced him to do gay scenes for the writers amusement.

[@tonysarrio8940]

That was it for us and most people I know that watch it. Now the witchers viewing audience have blue hair and neck tattoos.

[@davwes8594]

Horrible, crazy how badly they ruined a show that could of rivaled the first 6 season of got

[@barryb90]

Not even gonna attempt to watch it after season 2. The show writers know better than the source material and the fans apparently.

[@kristolball]

Stories so great that Hollywood must make a film or series, but not before gutting what made it great to begin with. If you are a screenwriter, you should be cremated and your progeny with you.

[@Mirio0430]

Just stick to the books my god... please

[@warrenkline7930]

They destroyed this series and went woke from its inception. They lost the lead and lost the views.

[@denijane89]

What character, this "plot line" is not part of the book. For which reason, it's hard to believe it. In Witcher 3, Radovid is a bad guy, he takes out Philippa's eyes and he's a jerk as a whole. And now how are we supposed to like the romance between the two of them. I just can't do it. Even if we ignore that Dandelion is very straight in the books. I can accept him being a bit bi or something. But with Radovid? Nope. Sorry, I really like you Joey, I think you're great Dandelion, very funny and I love the songs. But this plot line is just not fitting the lore at all. P.S. The second part being more mature sound horrible, really. In the books, the most mature thing is Geralt whining and wandering.

[@NkiePierre]

Radovid took out Phillippa's eyes in the Witcher 2 game not Witcher 3. Dandelion is a straight character in Witcher 3. infact he has so many girlfriends who are all mad at him when you meet them each separately but like him

[@TheLostGirl21]

Actually, and I really feel this really has to be said, Andrzej Sapkowski clearly stated that, should he ever write a sequel to "Lady of the Lake", it would utterly ignore everything that's been done in the videogames of "The Witcher 3". So, the King Radovid that was created by the videogames' writers is not part of the work that the TV show is adapting (i.e. the books). The only thing that's ever been specifically about King Radovid, in the source material, is: "No one could predict or guess then that this boy of thirteen years, which at that time was a person without any relevance in a country ruled by the Regency Council and by Dijkstra, would become king. A king who, after he paid all the insults that had been given to his mother and him, would go down in history with the name Radovid the Stern." That's it! That's all the details and insights we have on Radovid and what kind of King he'll become. The videogames chose to interpret it in the most villainous way possible, which is perfectly fine! But you could easily interpret it as: "He took power back from the Regency Council when he came of age, stripped a few noble families - that didn't support him and his mother when they should have - of their lands and their names, and was a good, but sad, strict and unhappy leader" just as well! And the Netflix series isn't adapting the games, but the books. Something that a lot of fans of the games and/or both works appear to be forgetting. In the books, King Vizimir is murdered when Prince Radovid is only 12. At the end of the books (i.e. where the TV series should normally stop, unless they choose to create new material like the videogames did), Radovid is only 13. And I can guarantee you that between the age of 12 and 13, young Prince Radovid never took out Philippa's eyes. 13 year-old Prince Radovid is literally described as "a person without any relevance in a country ruled by the Regency Council and by Dijkstra". Everything that Radovid does, as a King in the videogames, is AN ADAPTATION of the books that can't be found anywhere in Mr. Sapkowski's work! And since that 12 year-old boy plays absolutely no role in the books besides "being irrelevant", and then briefly mentioned as eventually becoming Vizimir's successor, there was literally no reason for a TV show to go through the whole trouble of casting a child to play him just to stay "faithful to the books"? What was 12 year-old Prince Radovid going to do? Glare at people from across the dining table, while his mother (Queen Hedwig) wept over the death of her husband for the duration of the rest of the show? It works when you're writing a book. You can write "Prince Radovid was a minor, Queen Hedwig had been devastated by the tragic death of her husband - the aristocracy, terrified, had become stupid, and was disunited and divided into factions.", and then completely forget they exist! On a TV show? Not so much. Even without the whole Jaskier/Radovid romance, aging Prince Radovid - while establishing him as a highly sensitive and empathetic character that's been trying to avoid politics and royal responsibilities his whole life - allowed the writers to find another reason for Dijkstra and Philippa becoming the de-facto rulers of Redania following Vizimir's assassination; while also avoiding the "woman can't function without her husband" trope that really wouldn't have fit with the themes of the show. I get that people are upset that the TV show is ignoring the videogames, and might think that the King Radovid that the videogame writers invented for their medium is more interesting or better than the one the Netflix TV show came up with. But you guys don't seem to realize that the videogames are adaptations, too, that not only ignore or deviate from book canon at times (just like the series), but created their own lore that is not part of Sapkowski's work.

[@denijane89]

@@TheLostGirl21 You sound like you're the screen writer :) Oh well. Let's say it like this - we like more what CDPR made of Radovid, than what Netfliix did. It's as simple as that. Yes, it is an adaptation, but at least, it makes some sense. Radovid falling in love with Jaskier makes zero sense.

[@TheLostGirl21]

@@denijane89 I'm not a screenwriter, just someone who is used to having favorite books reinterpreted differently in movies, TV shows, etc., and that learned to appreciate each adaptation and interpretation of the source material individually, without expecting them to be exactly the same. Actually, the whole reason people like reading fanfiction is the appeal of exploring "what if?" scenarios where characters and stories are taken in different directions. You can prefer the King Radovid from the videogames, who is a great character in his own right, and it's 100% fair and totally fine! But one can enjoy both while seeing them as two completely different versions of the characters, existing in two completely different versions of a world, that both have the books as a starting point / raw material to play with. I do believe that Netflix's Radovid makes tons of sense in the context where they have been attempting to make Jaskier more politically relevant and influential on the show, and ensure that he's not solely defined by his friendship with Geralt. On the TV show, Jaskier became "The Sandpiper", trying to do what he can to help keep more vulnerable people safe. He is also a character that really has a gift for inspiring people. So, although I have no idea what the writers are actually planning for the next seasons, I could easily see him trying to inspire Radovid to have faith that he could become a good king, and help him gather the external support that he would need to eventually take power back from Dijkstra and Philippa (Dijkstra is eventually driven to change his name and go on the run in the books, if I remember correctly. He leaves the Redanian court and never comes back, I think)... When Radovid mentioned that his favorite song was "Song of the Seven", Jaskier answered "that's slightly ironic"... But is it? That song literally begins with: You're nothing, you're less You're broken, a mess Defeated and hopeless You'll sink to the depths The oppressors are mighty Way greater in strength Let history warn you Resistance means death So, what if that's the writer's way of letting us know that Radovid might actually end up on the side of the outcasts? There's so much potential for writers to create new side storylines, expand on the source material, and really create their own fully fleshed out universe. So yeah, it doesn't make sense it you want the TV show to religiously stick to the books. But if you're open to the idea of them having a bit of fun exploring different aspects of a character's personality, motivations (thinking mostly of Jaskier here), and creating new intrigues for them that are unique to the TV show, it kinda does. I think "The Witcher" is one of the first fandoms that I've been a member of that has had such a huge issue with the idea of a TV series adapting or expanding on the source material. In the "Shadowhunters" TV show, they completely changed important plot points, created, removed, and adapted storylines... They aged characters up to explore more mature themes, and we all... sort of expected it to be different from the books? Yeah, some changes were less well received than others (Clary and Simon romantically involved wasn't something everyone was a fan of), and again 100% fair... But yeah. That's what adaptations are. What irks me, is when comparisons are drawn between two adaptations (videogames and TV show) while treating one of them - in this case, the videogame - as "canon" or as being the equivalent of the books' content, when they're not. But preferring an adaptation over the other one? I've got no issue there!

[@denijane89]

@@TheLostGirl21 I think what a lot of people really didn't like is the fact that Jaskier - a womanizer to the bone, was turned into gay. That's not "exploring", that's grooming. I don't care particularly much of Radovid - as you said, he's a minor character in the books, so there is room for interpretation and he could be a drag queen for all I care. But Dandelion is a different character in the books and have plot lines directly related to him being a womanizer and the "adaptation" just don't work with it. I understand your point, they did a lot of "adaptation" in the Wheel of Time too, so I guess that passes for "creative freedom". I agree, it doesn't have to be 1:1 correspondence. But then, don't blame people for not liking it. Because the authors became world famous because they wrote what they wrote. The book got their fans because they are what they are. If you change them in weird ways, then enjoy the reaction.

[@imtheochristheo3729]

Should have said no. The show was ruined

[@davelong4131]

Joey’s great. However, hate that the show took a turn for WOKE-ness by making his character gay. Stop changing the original story.

[@spacecakery]

Agree about the changing the story thing, but being gay isn't a woke thing. It's a human thing. Sad that you think this way.

[@davelong4131]

@@spacecakery Being gay is in deed a human thing, which I have zero issue with. What I mean is don’t change the character only to appease an audience.

[@dalium4085]

​@@spacecakeryhow Is that not a problem? If they made geralt fall in love with triss rather than yennefer It would have changed a lot of shit, do you not realize It? And btw radovid Is supposed to be the Kings son, a king btw Who should be extremely wise and smart, and Is instead portrayed as a Buffon. This season Is trash, and pushing queer stuff so much only works against the gay community (btw, your gay relationship Is already there in the books with ciri, there was no Need for this shit, this Is propaganda, it's not storytelling)

[@tonysarrio8940]

That was it for us and most people I know that watch it. Now the witchers viewing audience have blue hair and neck tattoos.

[@tonysarrio8940]

Thats not the point. @@spacecakery

[@dianethreadgold328]

Looks like the end of wicher after season of 3

[@NkiePierre]

I fear you're right. Without Henry don't know how the show will look like

[@AR-rn8ok]

@@NkiePierre I didn’t finish season 3. Is it worth it?

[@ricksmith9088]

Being politically correct is more important then having a good show and making fans of the books and games happy. A large majority of ppl are straight (and religious) and don't want to see this in their favorite TV show. That is why ratings are down and why Cavill left the show. I won't be watching show any longer, esp not that Cavill is gone. Good luck with your ratings since it is catering to the minority and going against the books and games.

[@tonysarrio8940]

Watching the woke trash was it for us also. We had Witcher parties for two years. It was great while it lasted.

[@soowormy]

lol sucks for u guys must be soo hard remembering queer people actually exist

[@ricksmith9088]

@@soowormy Could care less about your agenda. I don't care about woke or politicly correct agenda, I just want TV shows that stick with the books and games.

[@traveler317]

Oh stfu 🙄 having a gay storyline had zero to do with Henry leaving. You bigots can cry into your echo chambers but the world is moving on and leaving fragile bigots behind.

[@AR-rn8ok]

@@soowormy I like diverse characters in tv. I don’t like completely changing a series after so much money and time invested in it. Witcher is a dark fantasy style series and is very somber. Why all of a sudden we turn it on and it’s a musical with two dudes going at it that used to be straight? It became a completely different style show. Like come on even gay fans don’t want you changing stoic Witcher into a goofy musical. it was a bad business decision for them. I would have been pissed if in the middle of Rambo 3, Stallone broke out into a tap dancing sequence and singing. But I love seeing singing on wicked and Hamilton. Likewise I would have been pissed if half way through, Hamilton stopped being a musical and suddenly hypermasculine guys with swords started killing monsters and the music stopped. That’s a completely different movie.