Netflix's Witcher franchise is ever-expanding, and next month we'll be returning to the Continent for a brand new animated spinoff movie. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is set during the early years of Geralt of Rivia's monster-hunting career, when he's still roaming the land with his bard companion Jaskier. In those early days, Geralt finds himself contending with a race of underwater merpeople who are attacking divers near the seaside village of Bremervoord.
The streamer has just released a new trailer for Sirens of the Deep, giving us our best look yet at the animated film. Watch below, then we'll discuss!
Geralt of Rivia tries to prevent a war in Sirens of the Deep trailer
As we can see in this trailer, Geralt is contracted by the king of a coastal village to find out what monster is killing people in his waters, just like in The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. That brings our venerable monster hunter into conflict with a society of merpeople and sea creatures. Geralt shouts in the trailer that he's trying to prevent a war, before growling that he'll prove the people who think he's gone soft on killing monsters wrong, dicing up a bunch of mer-warriors.
If you've played The Witcher video games from CD Projekt Red, Geralt's voice will probably sound familiar. Yes, that's Doug Cockle, the same voice actor who played Geralt in the video games! Joey Batey, the actor who plays Jaskier in the live-action Witcher show, is reprising his role for the animated film.
Here's the official description for The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep:
Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter, is hired to investigate a series of attacks in a seaside village and finds himself drawn into a centuries-old conflict between humans and merpeople. He must count on friends — old and new — to solve the mystery before the hostilities between the two kingdoms escalate into all-out war.
Geralt of Rivia will have a new love interest in Sirens of the Deep
The trailer also gives us our first look at Essi Daven, a new love interest for Geralt voiced by Christina Wren. To discuss who Essi is, we need a little context. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's short story "A Little Sacrifice," which features in the collection Sword of Destiny. The short stories from that book were largely covered in the first season of The Witcher Netflix show, as well as the season 2 premiere. But Netflix didn't have time to fit all of them. "A Little Sacrifice" is a great standalone short story that didn't make the cut, and from the looks of this trailer, Sirens of the Deep will cover it in its entirety.
During this time in Geralt's life, he's already met his sorceress lover Yennefer of Vengerberg, and they've begun their on-again, off-again relationship. "A Little Sacrifice" takes place during one of the "off" periods, where Geralt and Yen are at odds and not speaking. In the short stories, this is after Yennefer leaves Geralt in "A Shard of Ice." In the Netflix show, it'll probably fall somewhere in the years between episodes 5 and 6 of season 1.
Essi Daven is a young bard whom Geralt meets while trying to get to the bottom of this crisis in Bremervoord. Geralt is still reeling from his latest breakup with Yen, but he and Essi form an immediate bond. They both have ghosts in their past, which helps pull them together.
I don't want to say too much more for the sake of spoilers, but it suffices to say that I'll be very intrigued to see Netflix's take on Essi. "A Little Sacrifice" is a solid Witcher short story, and Netflix had complete source material to work from here for Sirens of the Deep. I'm curious to see what they do with it!
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep premieres on February 11.
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