Does the Witcher Anime Announcement Indicate Plans for Further Franchise Expansion? Posted Feb 29, 2020
When the Netflix series, The Witcher, was released just before Christmas in 2019, a lot of people were speculating over whether it would be the next Game of Thrones in terms of its global reach. The two shows are vastly different, but they do have certain commonalities. One of the reasons that the HBO offering reached so many people was because the franchise aimed to appeal to varied target audiences. Now, with an anime movie version of The Witcher on the way, it seems as though the newer series is looking to replicate the successful method of the D.B Weiss and David Benioff title.
The debut season of The Witcher was watched by 76 million people, breaking a record for Netflix. With the next installment of the fantasy, which stars Henry Cavill as the monster-hunting hero, set to drop in 2021, Netflix desperately needs to do something to keep interest levels high. With this in mind, the streaming service has opted to create an anime film called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. This will be a brand new story which is separate from the main series, but exists within the fictional universe known as the Continent.
The rumors are true, a new Witcher story is in the works! The anime film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, will take us back to a new threat facing the Continent. Brought to you by the Witcher team @LHissrich and @BeauDeMayo, and Studio Mir the studio behind Legend of Korra.
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) January 22, 2020
Anime fans will be excited about this upcoming adventure, as it is being made by the studio behind Legend of Korra. The South Korea-based Studio Mir has been responsible for a number of anime series on Netflix already, including Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats and Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale. These titles have proven to be extremely popular, and the streaming service is obviously keen to work with the studio on a number of other projects.
The Witcher franchise is already beginning to look formidable. In addition to the series and the upcoming anime offering, there are three RPGs and a fantasy card game based on Geralt of Rivia’s world, from CD Projekt Red. Not to mention the epic saga of novels and short stories from Andrzej Sapkowski.
If the monster-hunting epic follows the same path as GOT, there will most likely be gambling games to follow. The Game of Thrones online slot is one of the major selling points of new online casinos, as the Microgaming title is known to attract a lot of players who swarm on the slot to experience the now-finalized franchise through a different medium. With this in mind, the Witcher characters and monsters would be ideal symbols on the reels of a brand new slot game.
The first season of Netflix’s The Witcher has only covered the first two books of short stories in Sapkowski’s series. There is enough content to work from to guarantee at least another five seasons of the show if the showrunners choose to do so. This means that the characters could live on in popular culture for the best part of a decade. Thus, there is no doubt that The Witcher has the potential to be one of the biggest franchises ever.
