In a land where destiny isn’t decided by kings but carved into the skin of those who survive in the shadows, a story rises like a forbidden ballad. The Witcher: La banda dei Ratti is a journey into the grittiest, most fragile, and most visceral side of the Continent: six young outlaws, bound by hunger, rage, and a hope that threatens to disappear with every swing of a blade, team up for a heist that could cost them their lives, alongside a Witcher now past his prime, worn down by his own demons and called to fight a war he no longer believes in. It’s a fantasy tale that feels both like a dark fable and a brutal survival story, where magic is a spark that only ignites for those strong enough to recognize it.
The Rats: A Witcher Tale (2025) – overview
- Title: The Rats: A Witcher Tale
- Format: Film (standalone in The Witcher universe)
- Length / Runtime: 1h 22m
- Genre: Fantasy, action, adventure, drama
- Country of production: United States / Poland / South Africa
- Release date: October 30, 2025
- Director: Mairzee Almas
- Screenwriters: Haily Hall, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
- Lead cast: Christelle Elwin, Ben Radcliffe, Fabian McCallum, Dolph Lundgren
- Produced by: Netflix Studios / Film Afrika
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The Rats: A Witcher Tale – plot
Before powerful mages spoke of prophecies and before kings drew borders as fragile as wet parchment, the Continent was a stage of shadows. Six young thieves – the “Rats” – live on the outskirts of cities, stealing what others don’t even dare to look at. They are restless, impulsive, ferocious, and held together only by desperation, until they discover that the most dangerous criminal organization in the realm is amassing wealth and power beyond imagination.
They decide to attempt the unthinkable: a heist that could change their lives — or end them. To pull it off, they’ll need a guide, or rather a shadow: a Witcher in decline, worn down by battles and a past that still sears, who agrees to join them. Not for glory, but for one last chance at redemption.
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The Rats: A Witcher Tale – genre and atmosphere
The Rats: A Witcher Tale is a dark fairy tale that leaves behind castles and prophecies to plunge into a rough, lived-in Continent made of muddy streets lit by flickering torches, ruins swallowed by fog, and taverns where life is traded like worn-out goods. The Rats wear torn leather, threadbare cloaks, and battered armor that speak of escapes that almost failed and battles survived too many times, while every blade seems to carry the memory of past clashes.
The music, somber and tribal, trails this world like a warped medieval ballad: low drums, taut strings, voices echoing like omens. Moving through it all is a Witcher unlike the usual legendary figure — not invincible but broken, made dangerous precisely by his vulnerability and the dark truth he carries. Around him are kids with no foretold destiny: young people learning to trust one another as they race between mercenaries, sudden flares of magic, and monsters crawling out of the dark, in a Continent that seems to crumble a little more with every dawn.
The Rats: A Witcher Tale– cast and characters
The central crew brings together several young performers already familiar to international audiences: Christelle Elwin (Mistle), Ben Radcliffe (Giselher), Fabian McCallum (Kayleigh), Aggy K. Adams (Iskra), Connor Crawford (Asse), and Juliette Alexandra (Reef). They are the “Rats”: thieves, misfits, and survivors that the Continent has shaped to be more feral than free. Leading them – or perhaps holding them back – is Dolph Lundgren as Brehen, the Witcher from the School of the Cat: a monster hunter who is more sharply human than heroic, marked by a past of violence and compromise.
Completing the picture are Sharlto Copley as the brutal antagonist Leo Bonhart, a much-feared figure from the novels, and Ben Robson as Bert Bridgen, a crime boss tied to the treasure the Rats are trying to steal. Directed by Mairzee Almas and written by Haily Hall with Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, the film finally puts faces and flesh to one of the darkest gangs in the Witcher universe ► WATCH ON NETFLIX
What reviews say about The Rats: A Witcher Tale
Early reactions to The Rats: A Witcher Tale paint a picture of a bold but uneven addition to the Witcher universe. Several critics praise Mairzee Almas’s direction for its tight pacing and grounded tension, and performances by Christelle Elwin and Ben Radcliffe are highlighted for bringing raw impulsiveness to the story’s young outlaws. But not all commentary is glowing. As IMDb put it, “The Rats had potential to expose the rot beneath the surface of the Continent. Instead, it offers glamour where there should be grit.” It’s a sentiment echoed by others who feel the film sometimes pulls back from the darker corners it sets up so effectively. Still, even mixed reviews acknowledge its ambition and its willingness to explore a more intimate, morally tangled slice of the Witcher world.
