Nightmare of the Wolf creators hopes it’s only the beginning of The Witcher’s anime journey.
AnyoneWhoever has read the various iterations Of The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy books, or the Netflix adaptation will be familiar with Geralt, the sword-swinging hero currently played by Henry Cavill. You may also know Geralt’s teacher, Witcher Vesemir. He is a figure that Geralt has not seen in the Netflix series’ history. In the finale of season 1, Vesemir spoke warmly, saying, “Geralt! I’ve been waiting to see you!”
Now we know that Vesemir’s voiceover served as an Easter egg for the then-unannounced The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. This film was about Geralt’s mentor in his younger days. The animated feature, now available on Netflix, was written and produced by Beau DeMayo (a staff writer for The Witcher), with Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, The Witcher’s executive producer and showrunner, co-producing. Vesemir is a disgruntled servant at a noble estate. Soon he flees servitude to seek out money and glory at the Witcher headquarters in Kaer Morhen. His body and soul are subject to many magical and physical tests to transform his mortal body into the right body for the job of monster-slaying.
Netflix hired Studio Mir, the same team that created Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender, to make the anime film set in The Witcher universe. Although Berserk and Van Helsing are obvious inspirations, Kwang Il Han, the film’s director (with Myungran “Ran” Ha translating), tells Polygon that Netflix’s creatives approached Studio Mir to ask them whether they preferred the Japanese or American style. The studio’s response was surprising. Kwang says, “We choose the Studio Mir style,” referring to the anime-inspired aesthetic that Studio Mir has used in its international work on Korra as well as the Dota: Dragon’s Blood. __S.24__
DeMayo finds that animating for Studio Mir’s animation style is more liberating than live-action. He says that anime has many potentials that can be done on certain projects that are not possible with live-action. DeMayo cites the Trial of the Grasses sequence, in which a group of Witcher proteges is forced to consume poison and writhe inside their cells. “I don’t have to worry about actor availability, active capabilities or stunts which could injure actors. There are no limits to what you can do.
