We’ll have to wait for Season 4 of The Witcher to see Liam Hemsworth in action as Geralt of Rivia, because in Netflix’s new animated film The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, the voice of the monster hunter is Doug Cockle, who reprises his role from the Witcher video games. There is still connectivity with the main series, too, even if Sirens of the Deep is basically a side quest: it’s based on “A Little Sacrifice,” an Andrzej Sapkowski short story, and features Witcher regulars Joey Batey and Anya Chalotra as Jaskier and Yennefer. Christina Wren is also here as a brave minstrel and potential Geralt love interest, House of the Dragon’s Emily Carey is the voice of a mermaid princess, and in this corner of The Continent, anyway, characters in the Witcher Universe occasionally break into song.
The Gist: It would seem standard for Geralt of Rivia (Cockle) to vanquish the Allamorax, an overgrown Komodo dragon with arms which attacks the Witcher and his bardic companion Jaskier (Batey) in the rocky, watery outskirts of a city called Bremervoord. But later, at a tavern where their lack of coin restricts access to meat and ale, Jaskier wonders how the duo will align their dwindling finances with the monster killer’s hardwired moral code. Geralt hesitated with the Allamorax because there is something bigger going on than just a monster terrorizing Bremervoord’s commercial fishing fleet. Agloval (Camrus Johnson), the city’s human prince, is in forbidden love with Sh’eenaz (Carey), the princess of the merpeople. And war is brewing between Usveldt (Simon Templemen), king of Bremervoord, and the civilization under the sea.
While Jaskier has no love for Bremervoord, he also has history with the city, manifested mostly by Essi Daven (Wren). As the psaltery player and his singing childhood pal perform a ditty together, and Essi takes a liking to Geralt, the Witcher grows wary of the shifting alliances between Usveldt, the king’s Bremervoord army commander Zelest (Ray Chase), the merpeople queen Dahut (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams), and her scheming sister Malusina (Mallory Jansen). Is everybody mad about the two kingdoms’ competition for resources? The love of a prince with legs for a princess with a tail? Or is it that their talk of war is just another example of what the older-than-he-looks Geralt has seen in so many other corners of the Continent. “It’s no longer about sustenance,” he grumbles to Jaskier and Essi. “It’s about greed.”
While Sirens of the Deep has Essi and Geralt making eyes at each other – “Flirting is not your strong suit, is it, Witcher?” – it also has Yennefer of Vengerberg (Chalotra), who in flashbacks continues to twist Geralt’s feelings. (Their connection, just like in the live-action series, can be construed as hot but murky.) And once the disagreements between land people and sea people reach a fever pitch, you can be sure potions and magic will figure into the mix – the underwater lair of Sh’eenaz’s Aunt Malusina is packed with baubles that grant wishes at a cost – as well as warriors who wear boots fighting those who have gills. Caught in the middle, naturally, is Geralt of Rivia. He came to Bremervoord as someone hired to kill actual monsters. But his true adversary takes many forms.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Sirens of the Deep, directed by Kang Hei Chul, written by Mike Ostrowski and Rae Benjamin, and with animation/graphics from Studio Mir and Platige Image, is actually the second animated adventure to be set in the Witcher Universe. In 2021, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf also featured the work of Mir and Platige in its story of Vesemir (Theo James), a witcher and mentor to Geralt. And meanwhile, on the live-action side of things, the main Witcher series was joined by its own prequel, Blood Origin.
Performance Worth Watching: We’re not privy to plans from inside Witcher-land. But if any of the action in Sirens of the Deep is to carry over to the series, Christina Wren’s Essi “Little Eye” Daven might be a good place to start. Geralt is quite taken with the entertainer and childhood friend of Jaskier, and Essi is sure to remind him that his gruff Witcher exterior masks a pure heart.
Memorable Dialogue: “The mermaid’s no doubt bewitched him – they’re known to be magical tricksters.” But Geralt of Rivia will not tolerate this besmirchment of merperson character. “No more deceitful than humans,” the Witcher reminds the royal court of Bremervoord.
Sex and Skin: A few love scenes where animated body parts obscure other, naughtier animated body parts.
Our Take: As it is with the flagship series, the Witcher in this Witcher tale gets a lot of guff about how he doesn’t actually slay monsters on the regular. But when Geralt does encounter monstrous beings in Sirens of the Deep, the fight sequences don’t scrimp on fantasy violence and blood spatter. The Witcher series has actually drifted away from fight scenes, as political struggles for power on the Continent take center stage. So it’s a thrill to see an animated Geralt’s platinum hair flying as he acrobatically contronts a lizard the size of a city bus, or as he submits to black-eyed and veiny “potion mode” and takes on numerous warriors of the monster species known as the Vodkin. (If a minotaur is the head of a bull on a human body, then the fantastical Vodkin might be considered fish-otaurs.) While its narrative elements are satisfactory in a fantasy storytelling way, the animated medium of Sirens of the Deep shines in its handful of action setpieces, since they embrace a greater amount of fluidity than the live-action Witcher can manage.
Our Call: Stream It. In The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, heads for the series should enjoy the bloody scrapes and various hero moments where Geralt of Rivia finds himself. As an adult-animated jaunt through the Continent, Sirens also adds a bit to the Witcher’s personal quest for rectitude, and expands on the lore of the land where he travels.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
