Netflix's The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf will pull audiences into unexplored territory-- the distant past of the Continent and the history of the witchers of the School of the Wolf. More importantly, it will explore the previously untold backstory of Vesemir, the oldest wolf at Kaer Morhen.
Nightmare of the Wolf writer Beau DeMayo recently spoke with CBR about how Andrzej Sapkowski's novels and CD Projekt Red's video games inspired the depiction of young Vesemir. "I came to The Witcher before I even was on the show. I was playing the video games. I was reading the books in college. And you know, something that always struck me with Vesemir specifically was, there was a friendliness to hit and -- especially in Witcher 3, especially when it came to Ciri -- that kind of Uncle [or] Grandpa vibe," DeMayo explained.
He went on to state, "That was the first kind of grain of how I started thinking about who was Vesemir at the start of his career, before the horrible things that happened with the witchers in the canon. I think that was probably the biggest genesis -- just that twinkle in his eye that he always seemed to have in both the books and in the games, and then kind of aging that down to someone who's in his youth and in his prime."
Netflix's The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf was announced back in January 2020. The feature-length anime tie-in will explore both Vesemir and the history of the School of the Wolf before both are properly introduced in Season 2 of The Witcher.
Though Vesemir's past was hinted at in both Sapkowski's novels and the video game trilogy, it has never been fully explored and no real details have ever been provided. The Netflix anime, produced by Studio Mir, marks the first attempt at filling in the old witcher's background and his experience at Kaer Morhen at its height.
The first ever WitcherCon saw Netflix unveil the anime film's first trailer, as well as the release date of Aug. 23. The Witcher will then return to screens after a prolonged delay on Dec. 17. Season 2 will adapt the events of Blood of Elves, which sees Ciri train at Kaer Morhen and enter the world of magic and sorcery. The season will also adapt Time of Contempt and at least one short story from The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny.
