Netflix has finally announced the long-rumoured second Witcher anime film Sirens of the Deep, which adapts Andrzej Sapkowski's beloved short story A Little Sacrifice.
We have no specific release date yet, but it'll premiere sometime in late 2024. And no, it won't be the debut of Liam Hemsworth as he takes the mantel of Geralt of Rivia from Henry Cavill; instead, Netflix revealed that Doug Cockle, who voices Geralt in The Witcher games, will reprise the role here.
Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra, meanwhile, will return from the live-action Witcher series to voice Jaskier and Yennefer, respectively. Christina Wren will play Essi Daven, who's never before appeared in media beyond the original Witcher books.
All revealed during Geeked Week 2023, we also got a brief announcement teaser.
? BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ? Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt in The Witcher video game series, will return in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep -- coming late 2024! #GeekedWeek pic.twitter.com/cV2hK69I6x
— Netflix (@netflix) November 10, 2023
"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," reads the official synopsis. "He must count on friends — old and new — to solve the mystery before the hostilities between the two kingdoms escalate into all-out war."
A Little Sacrifice takes place in roughly 1244 in the Witcher world, soon after Geralt and Yennefer meet for the first time in the Netflix show's Season 1 Episode 5, but more than 20 years before the main saga that begins in Season 2.
Heartbroken from his first break-up with Yennefer, Geralt travels The Continent with Dandelion before the pair come across rival troubadour Essi. The three then mediate a lover's quarrel between a prince and a mermaid that looks to grow a lot more intense in the Netflix adaptation.
Sirens of the Deep has been rumoured for a long time, with an incredibly subtle tease for the film even hidden within The Witcher Season 3. It featured a song also called A Little Sacrifice, sung by Ciri (Freya Allen), that told the short story's tale despite it not having anything to do with the main events of the show.
A Little Sacrifice is considered among the best Witcher short stories, despite it not featuring some mainstay characters like Yennefer or Ciri. The story is completely self-contained, similar to the one told in Nightmare of the Wolf, so lends itself to a Netflix film adaptation.
IGN gave the last film a 6/10 in our review: "The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf spends too much time building up the Netflix show and not enough telling its own story."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
