After a lot of buzz across the internet, it is now officially announced that Netflix is working on an animated Witcher tie-in.
The Witcher is one of the most influential fantasy book series in Poland with wide reach all over Eastern Europe and way beyond. The franchise was elevated to the high echelons of geek fandom after the success of the video games The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings and especially The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, regarded by many as this console generation’s best tile. The IP even expanded with the virtual card game Gwent and its own story-based spin-off Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.
With so many products and millions of fans around the globe, the Polish fantasy epic found its way to Netflix as a high-budget series streamed exclusively on the video-on-demand platform. While the production of the show was surrounded by controversy regarding some acting choices by the producers and concerns regarding the authenticity of the show compared to the books, the series had a huge success and found positive fan reception and raving reviews by the press.
Netflix was quick to announce that another season of the show is in the works, but the internet wanted more. This is when rumors of another production started making headlines - this time an animated movie about Gerald’s teacher, Vesemir. Well, now we have an official confirmation by Netflix via a tweet.
The rumors are true, a new Witcher story is in the works! The anime film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, will take us back to a new threat facing the Continent. Brought to you by the Witcher team @LHissrich and @BeauDeMayo, and Studio Mir the studio behind Legend of Korra.
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) January 22, 2020
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf will be an animated movie, instead of another series. It is in the hands of some crew members of the live-action The Witcher series, namely writers Beau DeMayo and Lauren S. Hissrich, but what’s most exciting to a lot of fans is the announcement of the involvement of South Korean Studio Mir, known in the West mostly for their work on American TV series The Legend of Korra. Their past partnerships with Netflix include Voltron: Legendary Defender and Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale.
With the stellar reputation of Studio Mir and previous animated hit series produced by Netflix, such as video-game inspired Castlevania, it is safe to say that this new movie has a lot of potential. Additionally, the fact that it won't be centered around Geralt, but rather his mentor, means that we will see a lot more from The Witcher world and witness events before the time of the books and games.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf has no official release date yet, but we might have a clue. In an interview with Telewizja w Polsce, executive producer Tomek Baginski mentioned they are planning “a few more interesting surprises between seasons”, suggesting that this might be one such surprise. If he’s right, the anticipated animated movie will be online inside Netflix before the end of this year.
