Yes, Witcher is much more Slavic-oriented, which is a refreshing change of pace. Sadly, many executives are unable to tell the nuances between regional literary styles.
I don't think it's about the mythos really. When TV executives try and come up with the "next GOT" it means plots that focus on conflict between different political factions and "sudden" deaths for shock value.
Well, I think the mythos is certainly part of it. But the problem is most of the industry sees "fantasy", and the immediate thought is that it has to be the westernized ideal of what fantasy should be, hence when The Witcher caught everyone's attention and it was announced a TV show adaptation was in the works, the producers thought they could make another Game of Thrones-like fantasy series without really understanding the underlying differences. They just wanted to be the next big highly-polished fantasy series.
Yes, about The Witcher's setting. A lot of the story feels as if it is a D&D adventure and you are following the party as the events of the world happen around them. A lot of the setting seems to be very Eastern European, but I am not sure if there are specific monsters from the region's cultures. GoT is a fantasy setting which is heavily influenced by Eastern European history and draws a lot of influence from actual history. It is a brutal world and the magic is designed to fit into a historical setting rather than a high fantasy setting. The books are more successful at this than the series.
Huh, that's an interesting way to describe it. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it certainly does feel that way now that you point it out. As for GoT, I realize it's influenced by European history, but the show at least still has the feel of something that's influenced by western society, and I feel that's what the Witcher's producers were aiming to recapture, and at the expense of everything else.
I agree completely on this. Martin has stated that A Song of Ice and Fire is directly inspired by the War of the Roses, and the hosts of the Podcast, Empires, believe that Martin must have been familiar with Colonial Indian history as a number of scenes found in the books seem to be lifted from documented events of that that era. Martin is American so he can't really escape his background.