By Earlier this year, we unveiled Netflix’s secret spin-off project The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. This anime film will follow Vesemir, the mentor and father figure of The Witcher‘s Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), many years before Geralt was born. In a new interview with Comicbook.com, writer Beau DeMayo revealed that Nightmare of the Wolf will have exciting action sequences.
“When you’re approaching an action scene in anime, it was just like, what is something that we could only animate that we couldn’t do in the live action show, so that it feels of its own world and it feels earned?”
“Some of that stuff, like I said, was really baked in my DNA. The Sailor Moon of it all, Dragon Ball Z, big spectacle action that… Like a Dragon Ball Z-type action scene looks goofy in live action. But it looks badass in the animation.”
That being said, DeMayo explains that there will be more to Nightmare of the Wolf than just action. “I think, with the live action but also with the anime, it was just so important that it not just be an action fest, that there’d be a story there. That there’d be emotion there that’s really sincere. A lot of people underrate animation, especially anime sometimes, for being able to deliver emotion, really poignant emotion.”
In February, Netflix revealed that Killing Eve star Kim Bodnia was cast in the role of Vesemir for season two of the show. It has not yet been confirmed whether Bodnia will voice the character in the anime film as well, and Netflix might want a younger actor to portray the younger Vesemir. One possibility is Theo James, who voiced Vesemir very briefly for a flashback in season one. James has voiced characters in other animated shows produced by Netflix, so it would not come as a surprise.
Other than the animated film, which was overseen by The Witcher showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich, DeMayo has written two episodes of the series (the third episode of season one, featuring the Striga, as well as the second episode of season two). The animation itself will be handled by the team behind The Legend of Kora, Studio Mir.
The official description of the film reads: “Long before mentoring Geralt, Vesemir begins his own journey as a witcher after the mysterious Deglan claims him through the Law of Surprise.”
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is expected to be released some time before the second season of The Witcher, though Netflix have not yet narrowed-down the release date.
