Though we knew that the world of Netflix’s The Witcher franchise would be expanding with Nightmare of the Wolf, an animated prequel about Geralt’s mentor Vesemir, and Blood Origin, a live-action series detailing the origins of witchers as a whole, Netflix surprised everyone this past weekend with the announcement of another project in development for the streaming platform.
During Netflix’s Tudum presentation of its new programming including The Witcher’s second season, Netflix also revealed that it’s working on a family-friendly project set within the larger Witcherverse that will be squarely aimed at younger audiences. No concrete details about the new project were announced but because so much of The Witcher’s story focuses on adult themes, the idea of a series for kids (Witcher Babies, if you will) was enough to make fans take to Twitter in an attempt to “debate” showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich about it.
Speaking in response to being asked whether the new project is a kind of cash grab that might stray away from the essence of The Witcher’s storytelling, Hissrich wrote a short thread about the reality of The Witcher’s mature subject matter, and the fact that elements of that same subject matter can absolutely lend itself to stories for children.
— can be extrapolated to stories that kids in this chaotic world desperately need, and could benefit from.
I say this as the mom of an 8 year old and a 10 year old. They’ve begged me to watch the show. They can’t. It’s not appropriate, too mature and dark, as you say. But.
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) September 27, 2021
Not only will this new Witcher series (if that’s what it turns out to be) be far from the first kids show to get a bit heavy (see: Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Infinity Train), it will be something that already has sort of a built-in opening for new narratives about the lives of young people who play important roles in the world.
Nightmare of the Wolf both showed you glimpses of how young witchers are made, and how simply being witchers-in-training made the young individuals incredibly significant figures. Quite a bit of living, learning, and experiencing the world goes into becoming a proficient, successful witcher, and it’d certainly be interesting to see some of that play out in a story where people aren’t always necessarily dropping dead left and right.
The Witcher’s second season hits Netflix on December 17, and there’s currently no word on when to expect the newest spinoff but we’ll keep you updated.
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