Wait, there was a new live-action Witcher movie? Starring Dolph Lundgren? On Netflix? In October?

I'm not a big Witcher fan but I am a big movie and TV fan, so I try to keep up to date on all the videogame-related films and TV shows. Several times a week, if not every single day, I scan the news, press releases, and entertainment sites for any info about new game-related adaptations.

So how the heck did I miss that there was a whole new live action Witcher movie. On Netflix. Starring Dolph Lundgren. And it came out in October of this year. It wasn't just me: a bunch of us at PC Gamer, movie fans and Witcher fans alike, missed it too.

It's called The Rats: A Witcher Tale, a feature-length special that serves as a prequel to Season 4, and you can watch it right now on Netflix—though judging from evidence I'm about to present, I'm not sure Netflix really wants you to.

Exhibit A: Netflix didn't do a heck of a lot to tell people about this movie. I get mail from Netflix in both my professional and personal inboxes, and they sent nothing about this special. Zilch. I also have an account on a Netflix press site that has absolutely zero mention of it. Odd.

Weirder still, I searched the official YouTube channel and there's no trailer or even a teaser for it. That strikes me as especially bizarre: you produce and film and edit an entire 1 hour 22 minute live-action Witcher movie and don't even throw together a single 30-second teaser on your YouTube channel that has 32 million subscribers? I know Dolph Lundgren isn't exactly a Henry Cavill-sized draw, but he's—dare I say it—at least a Liam Hemsworth-sized draw. If you advertised Lundgren as a Witcher, you'd at the very least get some curious eyes on it. And even if it stinks, surely you want people to watch it? Isn't Netflix pretty brazenly keen on total views above all other concerns?

The only attempt at attention I can find for The Rats: A Witcher Tale is the one article on Netflix's site I linked above, and I don't think they sent it to anyone. Like, anyone at all. I find no mention of it on Variety or Deadline or The Hollywood Reporter or any of the other usual entertainment sites. A total media blackout!

That could be why there's but a single critic review on Rotten Tomatoes. It's positive, though! That's something! The 100+ audience reviews, however, average out to a stinky 17%.

Anyway, it's just weird for a movie distributor to make a whole movie and not tell anyone about it, so I thought I'd bring it to your attention in case you wanted to spend some time this holiday season consuming a new Witcher-related movie that Netflix doesn't seem to want you to watch. If you do check it out (or have already), let us know in the comments if you liked it.