The latest installment in Netflix's ongoing Witcher universe has arrived, bringing fans back to the Continent for one of Geralt of Rivia's early adventures. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep puts Geralt and his bard companion Jaskier right in the middle of a simmering conflict between humans and merpeople. The short story that it's based on, "A Little Sacrifice," is essentially author Andrzej Sapkowski's take on The Little Mermaid, but don't let that fool you into thinking this'll be a light affair. There's plenty of star-crossed love, scheming and betrayals, and of course, monsters.
The film also features an excellent voice cast, which includes The Witcher video game voice actor Doug Cockle stepping back into the iconic role of Geralt, along with stars from the Netflix mothership show like Joey Batey as Jaskier and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer. Read our full breakdown of the voice cast here.
While there are plenty of familiar names and newcomers to The Witcher franchise to be found in the movie's credits, the voice actor for the mermaid Sh'eenaz in particular surprised me. If you're into fantasy TV and you thought that the merpeople princess sounded familiar, you were onto something. She's played by none other than Emily Carey, the actor who played Young Alicent Hightower in House of the Dragon!
Who voices Sh'eenaz in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep?
Carey has been appearing in more and more projects since her breakout role in House of the Dragon's first season, but Sirens of the Deep is the first time she's appeared in another big fantasy series. Carey is an excellent actor, and there's no denying her talents add to the film. Unlike House of the Dragon, where she never got a chance to speak High Valyrian on account of her character not being a Targaryen, Sirens of the Deep sees Carey speak primarily in the sing-song language of the merpeople.
There are also some pretty cool parallels between Sh'eenaz and young Alicent. Both are the daughters of noble houses and both have complicated love lives (to say the least). Yet while Alicent is pressured into marrying old king Viserys for political gain and willingly goes along with it, Sh'eenaz is pressured not to pursue her own lover Agloval, on account of him being a human. Needless to say, Sh'eenaz doesn't agree with this course, or we wouldn't have a movie!
How The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep changed Sh'eenaz's fate
Fortunately, things work out for Sh'eenaz and Agloval. Sirens of the Deep culminates with a wedding ceremony for the two, where the human King Usveldt believes that Sh'eenaz will drink a potion that will let her assume the same form as her true love, turning her into a human so she can live on land with his son, Agloval. However, Agloval pulls a fast one on his father and drinks the potion instead. When last we see Sh'eenaz and Agloval, they're joyously celebrating their union as two mermaids.
This is a fascinating reversal on typical tellings of The Little Mermaid, as well as "A Little Sacrifice." In Sapkowski's short story, Sh'eenaz does indeed gain legs and turn human so she can spend her days on land with Agloval. Sirens of the Deep flipped the script in a surprisingly enjoyable way. Netflix' s Witcher franchise has made plenty of changes from the source material, but Sh'eenaz's fate may be one of the strongest.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is now streaming. The next time we return to the Continent will be with The Witcher season 4, which is expected to premiere sometime later this year with Liam Hemsworth in the lead role as Geralt.
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