Netflix’s Witcher Prequel Finally Solves a Long-Ignored Origin Mystery

Netflix just slid a Witcher prequel onto the service with almost no fanfare, and it answers a question fans have been chewing on for years: how the Rats came together and what made Leo Bonhart lock onto them like a heat-seeking missile. The movie is called 'The Rats: A Witcher Tale', it dropped October 30, 2025, and it plays like a sharp, 80-minute origin file that plugs directly into Ciri's arc.

What the movie actually covers

Set right before Ciri crosses paths with the gang, the story follows Mistle, Asse, Giselher, Iskra, Kayleigh, and Reef trying to survive the chaos kicked up by Emhyr's siege. Everyone in this crew has lost something, and the film takes its time showing how shared trauma hardens into loyalty.

The big move is a heist at a brutal fighting pit run by Dominik Houvenaghel. The plan: rip off the cash a guy named Brigden has been skimming from the arena. As these things tend to go, the job goes sideways and the fallout is ugly. That mess forces Mistle to stare down her past and the truth about her lover, Juniper, which hits like a gut punch.

There is also a wild card: Brehen, a Witcher from the Cat School. He teams up with the Rats for the heist and later throws himself into the line of fire to slow down Leo Bonhart. That sacrifice is the domino that tips Bonhart to who the Rats are and puts him on their trail well before their Season 4 endgame. The movie caps it off with Bonhart recounting the whole thing to Ciri, which snaps the prequel right into the Season 4 timeline of her capture.

Why the reception is rough

On paper, this should be catnip for Witcher diehards. In practice, it has been a faceplant with audiences: a 19% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.8/10 on IMDb. A few reasons why:

• It was dropped quietly, with barely any marketing. Between franchise fatigue and the Geralt recast from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth, many fans simply did not know this existed.
• The project reportedly started life as a limited series and was condensed into a single movie after early shoot concerns. You can feel the stitching: pacing lurches and character work that seems like it was meant to breathe over episodes.
• Creative choices soften the Rats compared to their bleaker book counterparts. For some viewers, that sanded-down edge blunts the tragedy the story is building toward.

The bottom line

Flaws and all, 'The Rats: A Witcher Tale' finally explains how this gang forged itself, why Leo Bonhart becomes their personal nightmare, and how that collides with Ciri. It fills a meaningful gap, even if the delivery is choppy.

Quick facts

- Title: The Rats: A Witcher Tale
- Release: October 30, 2025 (Netflix)
- Runtime: ~80 minutes
- Creator: Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
- Cast: Christelle Elwin, Connor Crawford, Ben Radcliffe, Aggy K. Adams, Fabian McCallum, Juliette Alexandra
- Notable characters: Mistle, Asse, Giselher, Iskra, Kayleigh, Reef, Brehen (Cat School), Leo Bonhart, Dominik Houvenaghel, Brigden, Juniper, Ciri, Emhyr
- Scores: IMDb 4.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes audience 19%
- Where to watch: Streaming on Netflix (US)

Did this finally scratch the itch for you, or did the cut-down format kill the vibe? Tell me. And if you are catching up on Season 4, this slots right into that storyline.