Fans of grumpy but understanding Witchers who patiently deal with the shenanigans of young upstarts will be happy today, as it appears that Netflix’s upcoming animated film set in the Witcher universe will be focusing on Vesemir, not Geralt.
A synopsis for the film has appeared on Netflix, stating, “Long before mentoring Geralt, Vesemir begins his own journey as a Witcher after the mysterious Delgan claims him through the Law of Surprise.” Nightmare of the Wolf will focus on a young Vesemir as he gets to grips with his new life as a Witcher.
It would appear that the writers are moving away from Vesemir’s origin story in Andrzej Sapkowski’s books. In those stories, he was trained by a Witcher named Barmin. Netflix appears to be once again invoking the Law of Surprise that the live-action series (and the books) used to tie the destinies of Ciri and Geralt together. CD Projekt Red’s game kept Vesemir’s origins a mystery—we only knew that he was old, wise, and still able to take on just about any monster.
Lauren Hissrich, the showrunner from the live-action series, is involved in the new project, which will be animated by Studio Mir, best known for The Legend of Korra series.
There has been no casting news about the show yet, so whoever shall be voicing the character is currently unknown. Given that this appears to be an origin story for Vesemir, charting how he became the Witcher who would end up training Geralt of Rivia, and watching as The Witcher’s themselves would slowly fade away, there is a lot of room for tragic elements in the tale.
Vesemir is also expected to be a character in the upcoming second season of The Witcher on Netflix, so there’s a possibility for cross-show casting, too.
