I read 'The Last Wish' and really loved it. But I never would have called myself a fantasy writer before this. I've done some comic book shows, I've done a lot of drama. So when I read the book I loved it but never thought I should adapt it personally.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I love what happens between colleagues. It's just another facet of family to me. That's certainly what we explored all over 'The West Wing'. I was an intern in my first season between my junior and senior years of college. Then, I worked on the staff for the next six years.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I fell in love with David Bowie in 'Labyrinth'. That's probably the initial fantasy movie that I saw and fell in love with.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

Nice doesn't mean 'naive.' Nice doesn't mean 'gullible.' In my job, one of the most important things to be is decisive and firm.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

People often ask me if fantasy is about escapism, and I personally don't think it is.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

That, to me, is the core of fantasy - real people in a crazy environment, dealing with crazy problems. That's what I think the books of 'The Witcher' did really well, and it's what attracted me to them, in the first place.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

Sure, there are moments that you can escape, and you can sit back and just enjoy it, but one of the most fun things about 'The Witcher' is that it reflects on our real world, in big thematic ways, in political ways, and in cultural ways.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I like fantasy, but I don't live and breathe fantasy.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I read 'The Last Wish' and really loved it. But I never would have called myself a fantasy writer before this. I've done some comic book shows, I've done a lot of drama. So when I read the book I loved it but never thought I should adapt it personally.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I think that anytime you're doing casting and you're casting something that has a lot of existing fans you're going to get a lot of opinions about whether it matches fans vision.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I think audiences are really savvy and know when we're doing stuff to just shock them versus do stuff that really drives the story.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I'm not sure I'd have said, 'I'm a fantasy viewer.' Now I know I am, because I sat and watched 'Game of Thrones' and have never been more invested in a show in my life.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

What you don't want is just to say, 'All showrunners need to be half women and half men,' because then, for men and women, you could get inexperienced people doing those jobs, failing, and then not getting the opportunity to do them again.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I feel like as a writer, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to 'Game of Thrones', because it really blew open the doors for fantasy on television.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

For me, the biggest surprise? I had no idea how worldwide the fandom for 'The Witcher' was.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

I didn't have a lot of experience with adult fantasy. And that's sort of what intersected with me and 'The Witcher.'

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

When I was 20, I picked up and left my entire family, who were in Ohio, and moved to Los Angeles on my own.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

To me, I love when, as a viewer, I can be on a journey with a character, and not just hearing about something that happened in the past.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

It's like, if you have a story that's already great, then the thing that we can shift is how we're telling that story, how we're presenting it to the world.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich