The Rats: A Witcher Tale Set to Premiere Alongside Witcher Season Four

The journey of the witcher spin-off focused on the «Rats of the Borderland» has been challenging, but the project is finally set to be released. According to the website What’s on Netflix, the premiere of The Rats: A Witcher Tale is scheduled for October 30. This date also marks the launch of the fourth season of The Witcher.

It’s worth mentioning that filming for the show took place in 2023, with the team managing to wrap things up in just two months rather than the six originally planned. Initially, the story about the group of teenagers was meant to be produced as a mini-series comprising six to eight episodes. However, the failure of The Witcher: Blood Origin and several other issues prompted Netflix to consider canceling the entire series.

The company had various options for the footage already shot, including integrating flashbacks into the fourth season of The Witcher. Ultimately, though, the show was reclassified as a special episode that will run nearly as long as a feature film. Therefore, the upcoming season will consist of nine episodes instead of eight.

The Rats: A Witcher Tale tells the story of the «Rats of the Borderland» before Ciri encounters them at the end of the third season, meaning that the character does not appear in this special. When the project was still a mini-series, it was described as a story about a heist—the gang plans to make the biggest score of their lives.