The Witcher reveals first look at upcoming Nightmare of the Wolf anime film
The Witcher universe is rapidly expanding on Netflix. The streamer announced new casting for the live-action Blood Origin prequel series earlier this week, and now WitcherCon, Friday's virtual convention, has given fans a first look at The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, the upcoming anime movie premiering later this year.
The film is a prequel to the main series that focuses on Vesemir, the mentor Witcher of Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia. According to a logline description from Netflix, Vesemir at this moment in time is described as "a swashbuckling young Witcher who escaped a life of poverty to slay monsters for coin. But when a strange new monster begins terrorizing a politically-fraught kingdom, Vesemir finds himself on a frightening adventure that forces him to confront the demons of his past."
Killing Eve's Kim Bodnia will portray the live-action version of the character when the second season of The Witcher comes to Netflix later this year.
WitcherCon released a first look of Vesemir in Nightmare of the Wolf through new teaser art and a video during the streamed event.
Lauren S. Hissrich, the showrunner of The Witcher, has been working on Nightmare of the Wolf with producer Beau de Mayo. Korea's Studio Mir, which oversaw The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defender, is developing the animation for the movie.
Han Kwang Il directs the film based on a screenplay written by de Mayo.
Nightmare of the Wolf will introduce "this man who basically created Geralt, who shaped Geralt into the Witcher we know and love," Hissrich said. It will also act as "our first piece of connect tissue" to the main Witcher series.
She added that the story will chronicle "the pivotal sacking of Kaer Morhen," the spot where the Witchers from the School of the Wolf trained "when fearful fanatical humans attacked the keep." In The Witcher season 2, we'll see "the resulting dilapidation of this siege."
Separately, Sophia Brown, Michelle Yeoh, and Laurence O'Fuarain will star in The Witcher: Blood Origin. Brown replaces Jodie Turner-Smith, who dropped out of the prequel series due to a scheduling conflict, as Éile, an elite warrior who decides to become a musician but will eventually have to return to her violent ways. The show follows the first prototype Witcher and the cataclysmic "conjunction of the spheres" that merged the realms of man, elves, and monsters into one dimension.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf premieres Aug. 23 on Netflix. The Witcher season 2 is set to premiere this Dec. 17.
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