This show is mediocre on a lot of fronts. Some things are good and some are plain awful. The main cast is good I guess with Yennefer, Ciri and Geralt but everything else is horrendous. It's supposed to be in some sort of magical alternative version of Central - Northern Europe. There is even someone called "de Vries" which is one of the most regular Dutch surnames out there (I'm Dutch). Somehow the showrunners decided to cast black actors for the roles of villagers, knights in shining armor in a medieval fantasy version of the Slavic countries. It looks absolutely ridiculous.

I think there is a golden rule with fantasies and that you should always treat it the same way you would treat historical movies based on true events even if the fantasy is made up. You can't just change the demography of a fantasy just because it is a fantasy. Black actors dressed up in medieval knight armor just looks stupid. There weren't any black people living in medieval Europe around 1200 so there shouldn't be in a mythical version of it either. A fantasy show only works if the world it takes place in feels relatable to the viewer so you get immersed into the story so when the magical part of the fantasy kicks in you are more easy to accept the magic. If you decide to copy-paste the demography of a modern big USA city like New York into a fantasy show that takes place in medieval mythical version of something that resembles Europe you immediately take away the immersion of that world and the magical part won't get accepted at all. Unfortunately this means there is just not a lot of work to be found in these kind of shows for black, asian, indian etc actors.

I would not want to see any white actors in Asian fantasies either unless it makes sense. At some point our hero travels to a country that looks more exotic and warm and we encounter 2 black female warriors and they do look kind of that they are supposed to be there just because it makes more sense to the surroundings they are in that scene. Diversity in fantasy shows have to make sense. Immersion in fantasy shows is so important.

The script, storytelling, pacing, character building is absolutely the worst I have ever seen. It's only in episode 4 or something I realised that I was watching multiple timelines in no apparent order. All the other castings besides the main 3 all lack charisma. There is a queen there that just makes my physically feel bad every time I see her. A king that looks like a hotdog vendor. Extra's that look like they just walked from their local Robin Hood play or something like that. Haircuts are just the haircuts from today. Bad costumes, mediocre music. The bard is way too modern. He looks and sounds like a boybandmember who travelled through time.

Haven't read the books nor played the games but this looks like a tv show from the '90s.