The Witcher's showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has explained how the animated film Nightmare of the Wolf ties into the upcoming second season of Netflix's fantasy series. Based on the novels and short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, which also inspired the hugely popular videogames, The Witcher series follows Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who finds his destiny entwined with that of a young girl, Ciri (Freya Allen). The first season ended with Geralt finally finding Ciri, and the upcoming season will see the pair traveling to the stronghold of Kaer Morhen to begin Ciri's training as a witcher.
Directed by Kwang Il Han, the anime film Nightmare of the Wolf released on Netflix on August 23 and focused on one of the most significant events of The Witcher's lore - the fall of Kaer Morhen. Besieged by monsters and humans alike, the film sees Geralt's mentor Vesemir desperately trying to defend the stronghold before being forced to abandon it in order to save the young witchers. In the closing moments, it's revealed that Geralt is one of youngsters saved by Vesemir and so witnessed the devastation first hand.
When Geralt and Ciri arrive at Caer Morhen in season 2, it will be the ruin that fans of the books and games will recognize, however Schmidt Hissrich has revealed that the connection between Nightmare of the Wolf and The Witcher's second season will go further than that, with the events of the film greatly influencing the show's characters. In a video shared on Twitter by Netflix Geeked, the showrunner explained how the fall of Kaer Morhen "continues to haunt Geralt", something that will be shown in the new season. She also noted the common theme of fatherhood between the two, and suggested similarities between Vesemir's character arc in the anime film with Geralt's in the new season. Check out the full comment below:
"You don't learn until almost the last moments that Geralt was in the fall of Kaer Morhen and that he was a young child hiding in the basement, fearing for his life, hearing the sound of battle ahead of him. It's something that continues to haunt Geralt and we hear about that in season 2. It's really a story of fatherhood in my opinion. We get to see the father figure that Vesemir is to Geralt in the anime film and we get to see that Vesemir was willing to put his own life on the line in order to preserve this new generation of witchers. When we see Geralt again in season 2, he is struggling with that same idea, which is that the Continent is changing once again and suddenly Geralt is thrust into the role of the father figure. And he has Ciri along for this journey and he needs to start protecting her from the Continent as well ... When Ciri sees [Kaer Morhen] it's a destructed area. It's dilapidated, just falling apart, there are bones of monsters, bones of humans. There's a lot of questions that are unanswered and it's looks really scary to her. Nightmare of the Wolf allowed us to go back and explore what caused that destruction and damage that Ciri sees."
While it's important to offer context, especially to newcomers to the series, it's good to hear that Nightmare of the Wolf connects to the main story of The Witcher in a more significant way than simply showing a specific historical moment. Vesemir is a prominent figure in Geralt's life, so naturally he will have greatly influenced Geralt's outlook. With the father-daughter dynamic between Geralt and Ciri being a key part of the entire Witcher series, it will certainly be interesting to see how these similarities take shape. Moreover, considering that the witchers have greatly depleted numbers when season 2 rolls around, it will be equally curious to see how Vesemir reacts to the prospect of a new trainee.
One of the biggest mysteries going into The Witcher season 2 is who exactly will be playing Vesemir. While Paul Bullion and Basil Eidenbenz have been cast as Geralt's fellow witchers Lambert and Eskel, the producers have remained tight lipped about their casting of their mentor. Even in the first trailer, Vesemir's face was never shown, instead the character was only ever seen from behind which has only increased the mystery. After the first season, there were calls from fans for Mark Hamill to play the role, but whether this comes to fruition remains to be seen.
Regardless, knowing that The Witcher is committed to further establishing the characters and lore, as well as depicting the parallels between them is greatly reassuring. Hopefully it's something they truly deliver on. Fortunately, fans won't have to wait too much longer as The Witcher season 2 arrives on Netflix on December 17.
Source: Netflix Geeked