The Witcher: Season 2, anime movie and DLC
Netflix and game studio CD Projekt Red teamed up and to present new fodder for the «Witcher» franchise at the very first WitcherCon. Here’s what you need to know.
Last Saturday was all about Geralt of Rivia, the witcher who kills monsters for a few coins. Streaming giant Netflix and game studio CD Projekt Red joined forces to celebrate the «Witcher» franchise with plenty of new trailers, making-ofs, and panel discussions.
The focus of the event: Season 2 of the «The Witcher» Netflix series, an anime movie and new DLC for «The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt».
Season 2 of «The Witcher»
New monsters. New characters. And above all, Kaer Morhen: the place where orphaned and abandoned children are taken to be trained as sorcerers, if they survive the training.
Let’s recap: at the end of the first season, Geralt (Henry Cavill) and his adoptive daughter Ciri (Freya Allan), bound to his fate by the Law of Surprise, finally find each other. But the third main character goes missing instead: the powerful sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), who uses her fire magic against the invaders from Nilfgaard in the last episode of Season 1 and disappears without a trace.
According to Ciri actress Freya Allan, the beginning of Season 2 will involve a visit to the witcher stronghold Kaer Morhen, where Ciri is to be trained. But the training may be more difficult than expected, as the witches living there are overwhelmed by Ciri's powerful innate powers. Kaer Morhen is also no longer a real fortress, but rather a ruin.
We saw this in the making-of the Kaer Morhen set.
The fortress is supposed to be visually inspired by CD Projekt Red games, which in turn are inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski’s books. He wrote the first «The Witcher» novels back in the early 1990s. The anime film «Nightmare of the Wolf» is supposed to show how the fortress eventually fell into disrepair.
What else? Bard Rittersporn has a few new catchy tunes in store for us in the second season, too. We’ll also see a Leshen – a forest monster, one of the most famous monsters at all from the 2015 game «The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt».
Season 2 of «The Witcher» will be released on Netflix on 17 December 2021. You’ll find all videos and panel discussions published about the Netflix series here.
«Nightmare of the Wolf», the anime movie
Let’s take a look at the anime movie. Netflix didn’t reveal quite as much about it as it did about Season 2 of «The Witcher». What we do know is that the spin-off «Nightmare of the Wolf» takes place before the events the series and follows Vesemir, Geralt’s teacher and father figure of Kaer Morhen.
The movie will be released on Netflix on 23 August 2021.
«The Witcher 3» gets a next-gen update
The fact that game studio CD Projekt Red wants to make a next-gen version of «The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Complete Edition» for PS5, Xbox and PC isn’t new. Nor is the release date, which was again confirmed at WitcherCon to be «sometime in 2021».
The only new thing we know is that the next-gen version will come with some new, free DLC based on the Netflix series. It will include things like haircuts and armour. It’s not yet known if the DLC will also include new large and small story campaigns for the main game.
It was confirmed that the DLC will not only be released for next-gen versions, but also for PS4, Xbox One and Switch. And CD Projekt Red is said to have spoken with modders to incorporate community improvements into the update. Nice.
What else?
In addition to all the big announcements, there were a few small announcements. For example, Dark Horse is releasing a new Geralt figure to go with the series. It will be available in stores starting 23 July 2021 and is expected to cost 50 USD.
There was also good news for comic book fans. «A Grain of Truth» is an adaptation of the eponymous short story by Andrzej Sapkowski. It’s not known when the comic will be released. The same goes for the comic titled «The Witcher: Ronin», a Kickstarter project that tells the story of Geralt fighting his way through Yokai demons in a world inspired by feudal Japan.
A board game from the Witcher universe, «The Witcher: Old World», was finally also announced. It’s an adventure game in which players battle monsters and witchers from other schools. The game can be found on CD Projekt Red's Kickstarter page and costs 70 euros.
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»