Directed by Kwang Il Han, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf follows the origin story of Vesemir (Theo James), a cocky young witcher who delights in slaying monsters for coin and is the future mentor for Geralt (Henry Cavill). When a dangerous new power rises on the Continent, Vesemir learns that some witchering jobs are about more than just money.
Despite knowing pretty much nothing about The Witcher aside from the existence of the books and video games, I liked the first season of The Witcher series that came out on Netflix back in 2019 and I have been eagerly awaiting season 2, which will be coming out near the end of this year. Ahead of that, we’ve been given this anime spin-off that focuses on a new Witcher and expands upon the fantastical yet violent world of The Continent. While I still lack knowledge of the source material I can definitely say I was interested to see this spin-off, since most of Netflix’s anime productions in the past have been really good, and I wanted to see more of this world and its secrets explored outside of the main story.
After watching it I think Nightmare of the Wolf is a solid spin-off of the Witcher series that stays true to some of its violent roots but also offers a very interesting story through the perspective of a unique character.
While Geralt is silent, reserved, lacks emotion, has dry humor a deeper understanding of monsters in the world rather than something to kill for money, Vesemir is the exact opposite. He is cocky, talkative, very humorous, has more emotion, and cares more for money and glory more than anything.
However, you do understand why he is the way he is based on his past, which the film explores in detail. Plus the character is by no means unlikeable due to having such great charisma, and is a pretty badass fighter that really shows where Geralt got his skills from. Also, he changes over the course of the film, making you feel invested in him as he takes on various threats ranging from deadly monsters to humans that fear his kind and wish to wipe them out.
Theo James gave a fantastic performance as Vesemir as did the rest of the voice cast for their respective characters. I can’t go into too much detail for most of the other characters due to spoilers, but I can definitely say the two highlight characters were Graham McTavish’s Deglan and Mary McDonnell’s Lady Zerbst. Both are deeply tied to Vesemir’s character in very interesting ways.
The story is more straightforward compared to the complex narrative of The Witcher season 1 but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own surprises. There are some really good twists this film throws at you that will hit you right in the heart. And even though the film is its own story it does explain and explore events mentioned in the series as well as having characters from live-action appear, which furthers my understanding of the world of this franchise as a whole.
The biggest event we get to witness in this film was how the Witchers were almost wiped out and why their creation was stopped. It truly is a brutal and emotional event that really makes you understand why so few Witchers exist and why humans look upon them so poorly.
The animation is both gorgeous and graphic, probably even more graphic than the live-action series, though it still manages to match with the series in terms of style, look, and tone as does the action, which is fluid yet still hard hitting.
Obviously with animation you have more freedom to expand on such a large fantasy world and this film takes full advantage, giving us both great 2D animation and 3D animation, making the film feel like a full-scale fantasy epic. Also, the music is really great and perfectly matches the style of the series while having its own flair. I will say though, it still doesn’t beat “Toss a coin to your Witcher”.
As for issues I can honestly say I didn’t have any major problems with this film, though I could definitely name some nitpicks here and there, but they are all overshadowed by just how well made this film was. If I had to name one nitpick I would say that I wished this film was longer than 1 hour 21 minutes. This by no means diminishes how I felt about the film as a whole, it was me wanting more of this world and its characters. Thankfully we won’t have to wait too long since season 2 is releasing in December.
If you like or love the Witcher series then I absolutely recommend you watch this film, as it gives us a greater understanding of the history of this world as well as serves as a great story on its own. I’m going to give The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf an A.
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