Following last month's announcement that The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf would be debuting on Netflix in August and the subsequent teaser that got us all really excited, Netflix has debuted the official, full-length trailer for the upcoming anime film. The trailer offers us a bit more story context for the upcoming anime, as well as even more epic monster hunting.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is set before the events of the live-action series on Netflix and will focus on the story of Vesemir, Geralt of Rivia's mentor, while also expanding upon the lore of the Witcher's universe. As the trailer alludes to, we'll learn how witchers are actually created and how Vesemir grows to become a swashbuckling monster-slayer. The anime should help familiarize fans with the character before Vesemir makes his appearance in Season 2 of the live-action series.
“It felt like the longest sidequest in The Witcher video game,” producer and writer Beau DeMayo said of Nightmare of the Wolf's longer-form narrative. Typically, across mediums The Witcher is built upon episodic storytelling such as short stories, quests in a game, or episodes in the live-action show.
“Episodically, it’s a little bit easier, a little more contained to tell those stories. The [points of view] episodically, you usually have one or two characters; here it’s a bit more of an ensemble," he continued. "I think that’s probably why we have a really big quest section. That’s the thing that really came into the longer format, it allowed us to lean into the traditional dark fantasy, or just fantasy, idea of the epic quest. The ‘leaving the Shire’ kind of moment.”
As we see in the trailer, the animation aspect of Nightmare of the Wolf also allows for more creativity in the action scenes. While DeMayo pointed out constraints like "set hours" and "insurance policies," Studio Mir director Kwang II Han focused on the more practical benefits of animation.
“The actors had difficulty carrying multiple swords at the same time [in the live-action show], because they were too heavy, so they were only carrying one sword at a time,” Han told The Verge. “In the anime we don’t have those restrictions.”
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf will premiere on Netflix on August 23, 2021. Meanwhile, the live-action series will return for its second season on December 17.