The Witcher Netflix series prequel involves a story you "could never tell" in live-action

(Image credit: Netflix)

The writer for The Witcher Netflix series animated prequel Nightmare of the Wolf has opened up ever-so-slightly about what we can expect from the 2020 adventure, teasing a story that could not have been achieved in live-action.

“There's a grace and an art form to animation, and especially anime, that allows a different flavour,” Beau DeMayo told ComicBook.com of the upcoming film that will chart the origins of Vesemir, a mentor to Geralt set to be played by Kim Bodnia in The Witcher season 2.

Nightmare of the Wolf isn’t here to be a stopgap before season 2, either. It’s going bigger. DeMayo says it aims to tell a story “we could never tell in our live-action scope.” That includes traditional Witcher fare (“magic and monsters and adventure and romance,” DeMayo teased), as well as the script including “certain things it takes advantage of in terms of animation that only animation can do.”

DeMayo adds: “There are things that you can animate in an animated form that will look so amazing, so badass, that if you did it in action, in live-action, it's just going to look goofy or it's just going to register as a little false to the human eye.”

What that means is open to interpretation, but we can possibly expect larger, more complex battles, monsters not bound by CGI budgets, and several action sequences that Henry Cavill and company couldn’t have achieved as part of the mainline Witcher series.

Nightmare of the Wolf will launch on Netflix later this year.

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Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.