The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an upcoming animated film based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s “A Little Sacrifice,” is a reminder of what the Netflix series should have done when adapting Geralt of Rivia’s adventures. While neither Liam Hemsworth nor Henry Cavill isvoicing Geralt inThe Witcher:Sirens of the Deep, the movie is meant to be part of the same universe as the Netflix show. Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra are reprising their roles as Jaskier and Jennifer, respectively, with Doug Cockle voicing Geralt after playing the character in theWitchergames.
Sirens of the Deepis not the first animatedWitchermovieset in the same continuity as the live-action show. In 2021,The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolffollowed a young Vesemir and premiered to an impressive 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. WhereasThe Witcher’s latest seasons have struggled to appeal to both casual audiences and fans of the franchise, the animated films seem to have found the right tone and pacing for these stories. Although it’s too soon to say how goodSirens of the Deepwill be,the movie is cleverly adapting one ofThe Witcher’s best short stories.
Sirens Of The Deep Is Doing What Netflix’s The Witcher Should’ve Done More Often
The Witcher Should’ve Given Geralt More Standalone Adventures
Andrzej Sapkowski’sThe Witchercanonconsists of nine books, the first two of which are short story collections. Considering how Geralt of Rivia was introduced to the world through standalone adventures, plus howThe Witchergames would have players go from mission to mission, a TV show seemed like the perfect way to bring the character to live-action. Netflix’sThe Witcherwould have the chance to cover most if not all short stories before diving into the larger narratives of the novels. WhileThe Witcherseason 1 did embrace this episodic aspect of the saga, seasons 2 and 3 didn’t.
The Witcherwill end with season 5.
The Witcher’s first season covered a few different short stories from the first and second books, although it played around with the timeline. However,the Netflix series soon began to favor overarching stories about the Continent and its factions over Geralt’s episodic adventures.As a result, Netflix’sThe Witcherwould often feel more likeGame of ThronesthanThe Witcher. The upcoming animated film avoids that problem by simply covering one of Geralt’s many missions. Of course, an animated feature and a live-action series have different structures, but doing standalone adventures is undoubtedly a great way to adaptThe Witcher.
Netflix’s The Witcher Needed More Standalone Adventures Before Diving Into Larger Stories
The Witcher Got Too Convoluted Too Quickly
Although Netflix’sThe Witcherdid cover most of the short stories or at least incorporated elements from them across the first three seasons, the show would have arguably benefitted from a slower approach.The Witcherbecame too convoluted for its own good, from spinoff setups to complex political battles for the fate of the Continent. While all of those elements play a role in the Andrzej Sapkowski novels,Geralt sometimes felt like an afterthought in his own show.
The Witcher Season 4: New Geralt, Cast, Story, Trailer & Everything We Know
The Witcher Season 4 has some major casting changes, but most of the actors will be returning for the next entry in Geralt of Rivia’s story.
Doing more self-contained episodes or even specials and movies likeSirens of the Deepwould have been a great way to bring Geralt’s most famous stories to the screen before expanding the world ofThe Witcher. Fortunately, while the live-action series has to tackle a lot of storylines that have been set up inThe Witcherseason 3,The Witcher: Sirens of the Deepcan be just a self-contained tale about Geralt getting himself in trouble.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep
Cast
Based on the hit novel and video game series, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is an animated film directed by Kang Hei Chul for Netflix. Series protagonist Geralt of Rivia takes center stage once more as he is hired for a nearly impossible task- to ease tensions between humans and merpeople before they break out into an all-out war.
