The Witcher: Kids and Family Series Will Be Animated

If you somehow weren't already aware, Netflix's first TUDUM event included an announcement of "a new Kids and Family series set in the world of The Witcher" among other things. The reception to the announcement of a The Witcher kids show, which does not yet have an announced title, was mixed, to say the least. And now, The Witcher showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich has confirmed that the new series for kids and family will actually be animated.

Whether that "animated" means "anime" remains to be seen, as Netflix has certainly dabbled with and blurred the lines for both. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is decidedly an animate feature film, for example. The confirmation that the kids and family series will be animated comes out of an EW interview with Hissrich where she also offered new details on the series like the fact that it will draw inspiration from the stories behind the stories of the Witcher novels by author Andrzej Sapkowski.

"That process came out a ton of conversations, which of course broached, if we do a kids and family show, is it going to be The Witcher at all?" Hissrich told EW. "How do we do The Witcher without all of the gore, all of the violence, all of the brutality that we see in the Witcher world? Those things to me are the bells and whistles of this world. If you peel away those layers, you come back to basic tales of morality. That's what all of Sapkowski's short stories are. They're morality tales, they're fairytales. They're based on a bunch of folklore and mythology, the exact sort of tales that Grimms' fairytales do, that frankly Disney movies do. So, it was about, how do we take those same fundamental lessons, those same tales, keep them in the world of The Witcher, but make them more appropriate for kids?"

As noted above, Netflix recently announced the aforementioned show for kids and families as well as The Witcher Season 3. The first eight-episode season of Netflix's The Witcher is now available on Netflix. Making The Witcher, a documentary special, is also available to stream on Netflix. The first season of The Witcher: A Look Inside the Episodes is also, also available to stream on the platform now. And last, but not least, the anime film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is also now available.

The Witcher Season 2 will launch on the streaming platform on December 17th. Lauren S. Hissrich serves as showrunner on The Witcher. It stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Freya Allan as Ciri, and Joey Batey as Jaskier. New cast members for Season 2 include Kim Bodnia (Killing Eve) as Vesemir, Yasen Atour (Young Wallender) as Coen, Agnes Bjorn as Vereena, Paul Bullion (Peaky Blinders) as Lambert, Basil Eidenbenz as Eskel, Aisha Fabienne Ross (The Danish Girl) as Lydia, Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) as Nivellen, and Mecia Simson as Francesca -- among others. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Netflix's The Witcher right here.

What do you think about the announcement of a kids and family series set in the world of The Witcher? Are you excited to see what Hissrich and the rest come up with? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!