Blizzard reveals why Shadowlands is back in Hearthstone: Murder at Castle Nathria

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, has been revealed and will bring players back to the Shadowlands despite World of Warcraft seemingly moving on from it and phasing into its next chapter with the reveal of Dragonflight.

World of Warcraft fans were thrilled when developer Blizzard Entertainment revealed the MMO’s next expansion, Dragonflight, in April 2022. The company promised to return the game to its “roots” in the next expansion after Shadowlands seemingly missed the mark for so many players, but Hearthstone: Murder at Castle Nathria brings the region back into focus.

Although many WoW players were excited to move on from the Shadowlands setting in favor of more dragon-filled pastures, Hearthstone has planted its flag in the realms beyond as the card game’s next expansion, Murder at Castle Nathria, will take place in Revendreth.

Hearthstone’s Murder at Castle Nathria pulls players back into Shadowlands

Murder at Castle Nathria is a whodunnit murder mystery as players attempt to solve who killed Sire Denathryus. In spite of dedicated players’ desires to move on from the Shadowlands, the devs explained why a Hearthstone expansion in the region is coming even after the Dragonflight announcement shifted player focus.

Game designer for Hearthstone, Cora Georgiou, said of the timing, “We thought that this expansion would come out before the next World of Warcraft expansion, but we weren’t sure. It just so happens that Dragonflight has been announced and we are exploring the Shadowlands for this set.”

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Georgiou also shed light on the development timeline for the Castle Nathria expansion, “We began development on this set over a year ago internally. At that time, I don’t even believe WoW patch 9.1, the Raid on Castle Nathria, had come out yet.”

She continued “So, we were in communication with the World of Warcraft team, just to make sure that we were accurately representing everything in the expansion. Especially with information we personally didn’t know yet about what these characters would be up to over the course of the next year before our expansion had even been released.”

Georgiou finished by saying she’s “super excited” for Dragonflight, and that “maybe we’ll explore that in the future” in regards to the Dragonflight setting of the Dragon Isles.

Hearthstone fans looking for a Dragonflight-themed expansion may not have to wait too long, though, as Georgiou didn’t rule out a crossover in the card game’s future.

For more on the new expansion, be sure to check out what the devs had to say about balancing the new Prince Renethal card.