‘The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf’: Your Guide to the New Spinoff Movie

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is only about a month away, and there’s a lot to get familiar with before it comes out. Nightmare of the Wolf is a prequel to Netflix‘s The Witcher and is the franchise’s first step into animation. Scroll down for all the details you need about the movie.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is set hundreds of years before the events of the main series before Geralt of Rivia was created. It follows Geralt’s mentor, Vesemir, introducing him to the small screen shortly before the Netflix original series has a chance to in Season 2. Unlike the main series and the video games, Nightmare of the Wolf is not based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s original Witcher Saga novels, so this project represents many firsts for the franchise. Fans are generally most excited to see the series translated into anime-style animation.

This new animated format seems perfect for The Witcher for many fans based on what they’ve seen so far. Veteran fans are also deeply fascinated by this spinoff for its promise of new, original material added to the canon. The other spinoff in the works promises the same — The Witcher: Blood Origins will be a limited series set during the Conjunction of the Spheres.

The wait for both spinoffs and Season 2 of the main series continues for just a little longer. Those looking to dive deeper into The Continent can find Sapkowski’s novels on Amazon here in print, digital and audiobook formats. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf premieres on Monday, Aug. 23 on Netflix. Here’s everything you need to know about the movie beforehand.

Trailer

Netflix released a full trailer for Nightmare of the Wolf on Wednesday, July 21 along with the announcement of the voice cast. This gave fans a sense of the movie, and many were surprised by Vesemir’s cocky, playful tone at first. It also showed the first glimpses of the monster fights that will make up the majority of the story.

First Look

The first teaser for Nightmare of the Wolf was released on July 9 as part of the virtual event WitcherCon, along with a slew of other announcements from within the franchise. Fans were surprised to learn that the movie would premiere less than two months later.

Cast

The voice cast of Nightmare of the Wolf was held until the last minute, but finally we know that Theo James will be the voice of Vesemir. James is known for his work on Netflix’s Castlevania, which is also animated by Studio Mir. Other cast members include Sherlock‘s Lara Pulver as Tetra, The Hobbit‘s Graham McTavish as Deglan and Battlestar Galactica‘s Mary McDonnell as Lady Zerbst.

Creative Team

Nightmare of the Wolf is written by Beau DeMayo, who worked in the writer’s room on The Witcher main series and on Marvel Studios’ upcoming series Moon Knight. The main series’ showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is also involved in this spinoff as an executive producer. The animation itself will be handled by Studio Mir, an animation studio known for action-packed titles like the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel The Legend of Korra. It has also worked on Netflix original series like Voltron: Legendary Defenders.

Announcement

Netflix announced Nightmare of the Wolf in January of 2020, after the news leaked via the Writer’s Guild of America. The movie has been in the works for over a year now and although the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed production on many projects, the animation industry has generally been able to keep up its usual pace, so there’s a good chance the timeline hasn’t been disrupted too much.

Plot

Netflix has revealed the bare bones of the plot of this spinoff already, giving fans a vague idea of what it will reveal. The streamer’s official description says: “Long before mentoring Geralt, Vesemir begins his own journey as a Witcher after the mysterious Deglan claims him through the Law of Surprise.”

DeMayo also spoke a bit about the content and feel of the movie in an interview with ComicBook.com. He said: “[The Witcher world] is a massive canvas, and I actually started out my career working as an assistant and executive at Disney in animation, and it was there where I first got my job in the industry. So I was aware when Lauren came and asked me to write [the film] what we could do in animation that you cannot do in live-action.”

“There is not necessarily always parity between those two mediums. There are things that you can animate in an animated form that will look so amazing, so badass, that if you did it in live-action, it’s just going to look goofy or it’s just going to register as a little false to the human eye,” DeMayo continued. “There’s a grace and an art form to animation, and especially anime, that allows a different flavor. So I think from Lauren and [my] perspective when we came at it, was what is the type of story we can tell? Which, I can’t tell you the story, but what is the type of story that we could tell that we could never tell in our live-action scope? Something with magic and monsters and adventure and romance that you couldn’t necessarily use a live-action medium to tell, and I think when people see the anime and when it releases, there are very particular choices we made.”

“And the script itself, there are certain things it takes advantage of in terms of animation that only animation can do. I think that’s what’s the most exciting thing that I’m waiting for fans to see. Is that, when you see the anime, it’s not just the events, it’s what Studio Mir has been capable of pulling off. It’s what our partners in the anime division at Netflix have been able to pull off. It is something… it is a story we could not have told in live-action in any way, shape or form. At least not without an incredible burden on production, I will say that,” DeMayo concluded.

Release Date

Finally, Nightmare of the Wolf is scheduled to premiere on Monday, Aug. 23 on Netflix. It will come just a few months before The Witcher Season 2 on Dec. 17, and the live-action prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin is expected some time in 2022.

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