Wolfwalkers tells the story about 2 girls, one a hunter and the other a wolfwalker who become unlikely friends and set out on a journey. I was fortunate enough to get the chance to learn more about this movie this past weekend. We got the opportunity to chat with Tomm Moore (Director), Ross Stewart (Director), Maria Pareja (Art Director) and Grainne Fordham (Layout Artist) and they shared some really good fun facts about the film. So, here they are…

Wolfwalkers Fun Facts

  • Robyn was originally going to be a little boy but since girls weren’t allowed to do any hunting during that time. So, it made more sense to have the character be a girl so that she could rebel.
  • They initially had a larger introduction that showed the father’s backstory and explained why they left England but they ended up cutting it out. They also planned on explaining what a wolfwalker was but thought it would be better to discover that as Robyn discovers it herself.
  • Mebh’s second name, Og MacTire, translates to “young wolf”
  • Robyn Goodfellow is named after Robin Goodfellow from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
  • They list Wolf Consultants in the end credits and they are actually all the names of the studio dogs.
  • There is a lot of crew in the movie. While some of them didn’t make the cut, they were all excited about being drawn for a potential spot in the film.
  • The green crystal in this film is an Easter egg from their film, The Secret of Kells.
  • They chose a hand drawn animation because that style is timeless and gives the feel of a picture book…they also really like to draw so they like this style.
  • Sometimes they would do 60 of the same drawing in the same day.
  • They went through a lot of pencils during the wolf sequences.
  • They used charcoal, pencil, graphite and watercolors for the animation.
  • Production of the film took 3 years but they had been writing and designing years before that.

Wolfwalkers is now available on Apple TV+

More about Wolfwalkers

In a time of superstition and magic, when wolves are seen as demonic and nature an evil to be tamed, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn, comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack. But when Robyn saves a wild native girl, Mebh, their friendship leads her to discover the world of the Wolfwalkers and transform her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.