How The Witcher Spinoff Nightmare Of The Wolf Outshines The Main Show

Among Netflix’s fantasy movies is an animated one that’s only 90 minutes long, but that’s enough for it to show The Witcher how it’s done. The Witcher had a strong start when it debuted on Netflix in 2019, and while it’s still one of the streamer’s most popular fantasy shows, its quality has been in decline since season 2.

As The Witcher prepares for its fifth and final season, the creative team behind the show has huge challenges ahead. The Witcher season 5 has many questions to answer, plot holes to solve, and stories to wrap up, but it doesn’t have to look too far to see the best way to do a fantasy story.

The Witcher’s first spinoff movie, Nightmare of the Wolf, is even better than the show, and season 5 should be taking note, as it shows how it should be done.

Nightmare Of The Wolf Remembered What The Witcher Is Really About

It didn’t take long for Netflix’s The Witcher to expand beyond the main show. Between seasons 1 and 2, Netflix released the first Witcher spinoff, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Directed by Kwang II Han, Nightmare of the Wolf is an animated dark fantasy movie that takes the audience many years before the events of the main show.

Nightmare of the Wolf follows a young Vesemir (voiced by Theo James), the powerful witcher who would go on to become Geralt’s mentor and father figure. Through flashbacks, Nightmare of the Wolf explores Vesemir’s younger years, while in the present, he faces a dangerous, rising power, and Kaer Morhen is in great danger.

Nightmare of the Wolf holds a rare, perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes of 100%, being praised for its animation, story, and pace. What’s most important about Nightmare of the Wolf, however, is that it remembered what The Witcher is really about, right before the main show forgot (and, unfortunately, hasn’t fully remembered yet).

Nightmare of the Wolf sees Vesemir doing what he does best as a powerful witcher: hunt monsters, which The Witcher did well in season 1, but gradually forgot about. As action-filled as Nightmare of the Wolf is, it doesn’t forget the elements of mystery and drama, making the story a lot richer, layered, and complex.

The characters of Nightmare of the Wolf are also complex, and though it has a limited runtime compared to the show, the movie gives its main characters the time they need to not only develop their present story but also take a look at their backstory to better understand their present.

Nightmare Of The Wolf Added More To The Witcher Than Most Seasons Of The Show

Three more seasons of The Witcher have come out since Nightmare of the Wolf was released, and yet, the movie added a lot more to the show and its rich universe than those seasons have. The biggest mistake of The Witcher was the changes it made to its source material in season 2, especially to Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), which, two seasons later, it hasn’t fully fixed yet.

This has made way for various unanswered questions, plot holes, and loose ends, and not enough answers. Nightmare of the Wolf, on the other hand, expanded the show by exploring Vesemir’s backstory, some of Kaer Morhen’s history and the events that led to its fall, the introduction of a young Geralt, and wrapped up its main stories quite nicely.

Surely, The Witcher season 5 can still make up for some of the mistakes of the previous seasons, but with just one batch of episodes left, season 5 won’t be able to cover every plot hole and mystery.

Why The Witcher’s Spinoffs Haven’t Matched Nightmare Of The Wolf

Nightmare of the Wolf was the beginning of more Witcher spinoffs, but, unfortunately, none have matched its quality and success yet. A live-action prequel miniseries, titled The Witcher: Blood Origin, was released in 2022, but it was panned by critics and general audiences for its writing, deviation from the lore, and poor quality.

Then came a second movie in 2025, titled The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, which follows Geralt (voiced by Doug Cockle) on a new adventure. Although it was a lot better received than Blood Origin, it didn’t succeed as Nightmare of the Wolf did, with critics once again pointing out poor writing, an underwhelming story, and that the movie prioritized style over substance.

Accompanying The Witcher season 4 was the movie The Rats: A Witcher Tale, which didn’t succeed either due to (once again) poor quality, lack of marketing, and the characters’ fate already being revealed at the end of season 4.

Nightmare of the Wolf succeeded as it fully focused on its story, which organically added to the main show, and had a perfect mix of action, drama, and mystery, with a well-written story and complex characters that kept the audience engaged. The Witcher season 5 can take some notes from Nightmare of the Wolf, as do any future spinoffs.

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  The Witcher

  

  6/10

  Release Date December 20, 2019

  Network Netflix

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    Anya Chalotra

    Yennefer of Vengerberg