What to expect from WitcherCon: Netflix and CD Projekt RED’s Witcher-themed convention

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Andrzej Sapkowski’s acclaimed fantasy saga, The Witcher, sprouted many adaptations over the years, but the two most notable ones are the television series created by Netflix and the video game trilogy created by CD Projekt RED.

For years, since the show was first announced by Netflix, its creators took care to distance themselves from the video games. For this reason, fans around the world were shocked to learn that Netflix and CD Projekt RED will be hosting a joined Witcher convention on July 9. What kind of panels and reveals can we expect from WitcherCon? We’ve gathered a recap of everything we know, and a bit of speculation as well.


Overview

The official WitcherCon website describes the event as “a global virtual celebration of The Witcher“. The digital event will be streamed on Netflix as well as on CD Projekt RED’s YouTube and Twitch channels first in July 9 (10AM PT, 6PM BST, 7PM CET) and then in July 10 (6PM PT, 2AM BST, 3AM CET).

The website promises that we will “watch the worlds of CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher video games and the Netflix series come together for an event full of surprises and exclusive first looks“. Regarding what we can expect from these surprises and first looks, the website mentions deep dives into the making of the games, show and anime film Nightmare of the Wolf including “exclusive behind-the-scenes footage“.

Besides the reveals, WitcherCon will also feature interactive panels spotlighting the people who brought the saga to life in-game and on-screen, as well as “expert explorations into the lore, legends, monsters, and origins of the Continent”. These panels will include appearances from Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, Lauren Hissrich and Declan de Barra.


Interviews with Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan

The new WitcherCon trailer has also confirmed that the panels will feature interviews, games, and sneak peeks with series stars Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan as well as showrunner Lauren Hissrich. Expect the Netflix cast to answer questions related to Season 2, as those were gathered by the show’s official Twitter page shortly after the Con was announced.


Will we see trailers for The Witcher Season 2 and the anime film Nightmare of the Wolf?

Though we’re all sure to enjoy the interviews, panels, and lore, the thing Witcher fans are most anxious to see is new footage from the Netflix series. So far, we’ve only been treated to quick glimpses at the upcoming second season, but we expect to get something more appetizing at WitcherCon. After Witchmas and how the Geeked Week was hyped up, let’s agree, we deserve something tasty.

This does not necessarily mean we will get a trailer, but behind-the-scenes footage and sneak peeks have already been confirmed.

As you probably know, season two isn’t the only Witcher project under development at Netflix. A live-action prequel series titled Blood Origin is also in the works, but with filming yet to begin we don’t expect to learn much about it at WitcherCon. Showrunner Declan de Barra will be making an appearance so he will surely get to talk about it.


The anime film Nightmare of the Wolf, on the other hand, has been in development for quite some time at Studio Mir (the creators of Avatar: The Legend of Korra).

The animated film will focus of Geralt’s mentor Vesemir and will explore his adventures from long before Geralt was born. As this project was specifically mentioned on the WitcherCon website, we expect to hear more about it during the panels. We wouldn’t be surprised if the film’s first teaser or trailer will be revealed at this occasion.

The WitcherCon website does seem to confirm that we will see something from Nightmare of the Wolf, although there seems to be a mistake where they confused Nightmare with Blood Origin:

CERTAIN ELEMENTS FROM NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES THE WITCHER AND THE ANIME BLOOD ORIGIN USED WITH PERMISSION FROM NETFLIX.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Witcher prequel ‘Nightmare of the Wolf’ gets a director and other new details


What can we expect game-wise?

The website for WitcherCon confirms that there will be no new Witcher game announcements during the stream, so don’t expect a reveal of CD Projekt RED’s next Witcher game. That doesn’t rule out a surprise appearance from Doug Cockle, though! That being said, it doesn’t mean we can’t get anything content-wise at all.

The only real Witcher-related project that has been confirmed to be dropping relatively soon is a next-gen remaster/upgrade of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. By the latest reports, it is bound to hit our platforms as a free upgrade later this year.

But with the various issues CDPR is having with still having to fix Cyberpunk 2077 and the fact that they had been hacked and had tons of their data stolen, we can’t hold our breaths and be sure about any certain dates.

The upgrade is said to include DLSS, Ray-Tracing and other new features. Perhaps this is what was teased in the new WitcherCon teaser and not actually just old footage branded as “top secret”?


Even if we don’t see a proper trailer for Season 2, WitcherCon is bound to be an exciting event for the fans. While we wait for July 9 to arrive, we expect Netflix to drop their third brief character teaser focusing on everyone’s favorite sorceress, Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer of Vengerberg. It’s unfortunate it wasn’t released last Friday, but we still expect to see it before WitcherCon as there is one more Friday before it begins.

If you haven’t read our frame-by-frame analysis of the Geralt teaser and the Ciri teaser, you may want to take a look as there’s quite a lot of material packed into them.

2 comments on “What to expect from WitcherCon: Netflix and CD Projekt RED’s Witcher-themed convention”

  1. There is another Witcher Game we might expect news for:

    Last year CDPR announce a mobile game under the name “The Witcher: Monster Slayer” which is known to be running in Beta testing already. The development is run by a separate studio that is not involved in fixing CP2077 issues.
    I am hoping for some gameplay trailer or maybe even the announcement of a release date.

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