Netflix is ready to get out of The Witcher business.
According to Redanian Intelligence (via What’s on Netflix), the streamer has opted not to move forward with two Witcher spin-offs — The Rats and an untitled kid’s series — with the animated movie, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, starring Doug Cockle as Geralt, now set to be the final spin-off for the fantasy franchise.
Who are the Rats?
While not much was revealed about the untitled kid’s series before its cancellation, The Rats would have been a prequel series about its eponymous characters, who were introduced in The Witcher Season 3 finale. The prequel would have revealed how this group of teenagers who turned to crime because of the war met and what they did before meeting Ciri.
The Rats prequel reportedly filmed a portion of its episodes in South Africa for two months in 2023 with Mairzee Almas (The Sandman, Shadow & Bone) at the helm. After reviewing the shot footage after it had gone through post-production, Netflix decided not to film the rest of the season or repurpose the already-shot footage into a movie.
However, Netflix is reportedly interested in repurposing some of The Rats’ footage into flashbacks for the upcoming The Witcher Season 4, but it remains to be seen whether that will end up happening.
The Witcher ending with Season 5
Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, The Witcher premiered on Netflix on December 20, 2019, with Henry Cavill starring as Geralt of Rivia. While critical reception was mixed, Cavill’s performance was singled out as a highlight. The actor returned as Geralt for Seasons 2 and 3 before announcing his departure from the series ahead of the Season 3 premiere. Despite being a passionate fan of The Witcher, Cavill is reported to have left the series due to creative differences with the showrunners over how the source material should be adapted.
Liam Hemsworth, best known for his role as Gale in The Hunger Games film series, was announced to be replacing Cavill as Geralt in October 2022. He will portray the character in Seasons 4 and 5 of The Witcher, with the latter also set to be the final season.
Production on Season 4 began in April 2024 at Longcross Studios in the UK. Season 5 is currently being written and will be filmed right after Season 4 wraps. The fourth and fifth seasons will cover the remaining three books of author Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels — Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake.
The first three seasons of The Witcher are currently streaming on Netflix.
