The Witcher team explains why the upcoming Netflix anime movie was the perfect chance to finally adapt one of the series' most ambitious short stories

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, the new feature-length anime set to drop on Netflix on February 11, is set to do something the live-action series has never dared to attempt: adapt 'A Little Sacrifice', one of Andrzej Sapkowski's most ambitious short stories in the franchise.

According to showrunner Lauren Hissrich and Sirens of the Deep co-writer Rae Benjamin, there's a perfectly logical reason why they've waited to tell the tale in 2D. "We didn't want to cheap out," stresses Hissrich in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features Daredevil: Born Again on the cover and hits newsstands on January 29. "Water is death, you know?" she adds. Well, not everyone can be James Cameron now, can they?

Directed by Kang Hei Chul, Sirens of the Deep takes place between episodes 5 and 6 of the main show and sees Geralt of Rivia hired to investigate a series of violent attacks that have spooked the residents of a small coastal village. Later, he finds himself having to stop a centuries-old conflict between humans and under-the-sea folk from turning into an all-out war. Doug Cockle, Joey Batey, Christina Wren, and Anya Chalotra star.

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Inviting audiences into a fully conceived merworld, inhabited by merpeople who speak their own mer language, is a tall order, and the team behind The Witcher's latest offering saw it as an opportunity to push the limits on what we've seen of The Witcher world before.

"Being that this was animated," says Benjamin, "we took full advantage of making these merpeople feel different. They're not your traditional depiction of mermaids – you know, a human-looking person with a tail. We wanted to make something that you haven't necessarily seen in other movies and TV shows, and really make it as heightened as possible. There aren't any budget constraints, there aren't any visual effects constraints. We wanted to dive into that world and make it as unique as possible."

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep lands on Netflix on February 11. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which will be available from Wednesday, January 29. Check out the Daredevil: Born Again cover to look for on newsstands below...