The Witcher is in a tricky spot right now. The first season rapidly became one of the most successful shows in Netflix’s history and a second outing was quickly greenlit, with the cast and crew beginning a shoot in early 2020 with an air date of this winter. But then came COVID-19, which shut down production and has caused a substantial delay. We’ve now heard that filming might not finish until early 2021, meaning a much longer wait to see Geralt of Rivia back on our screens.
But Netflix has just announced a new show that might well fill the gap: The Witcher: Blood Origin. And while certainly exciting to hear about, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, as We Got This Covered first told you weeks ago that a spinoff was in development.
Billed as a six-episode live-action miniseries that will function as a prequel to the main show, the official synopsis describes it as so:
“Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – the origin of the very first Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal “conjunction of the spheres,” when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.”
Those familiar with the mythology will know that the conjunction of the spheres was possibly the most important event in the history of the Witcher universe. This cataclysm saw several dimensions collapsing into one another, resulting in the destruction of the human world. The human refugees (and various monsters) fled to the Elven dimension but, as was hinted at in season 1 of The Witcher, this meeting of the cultures did not end well for the indigent elves.
The Witcher writer Declan de Barra has been promoted to Blood Origin‘s showrunner and here’s what he had to say about the project:
As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin. A question has been burning in my mind ever since I first read The Witcher books – What was the Elven world really like before the cataclysmic arrival of the humans? I’ve always been fascinated by the rise and fall of civilizations, how science, discovery, and culture flourish right before that fall. How vast swathes of knowledge are lost forever in such a short time, often compounded by colonization and a rewriting of history. Leaving only fragments of a civilization’s true story behind. The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell the tale of the Elven civilization before its fall, and most importantly reveal the forgotten history of the very first Witcher.”
Lauren S. Hissrich, meanwhile, is executive producing and said:
“I am so thrilled to collaborate with Declan and the Netflix team on The Witcher: Blood Origin. It’s an exciting challenge to explore and expand The Witcher universe created by Andrzej Sapkowski, and we can’t wait to introduce fans to new characters and an original story that will enrich our magical, mythical world even more.”
Original author Andrzej Sapkowski is also on board and will serve as creative consultant, and here’s what he had to share:
“It is exciting that the world of Witcher – as planned in the very beginning – is expanding. I hope it will bring more fans to the world of my books.”
The show will shoot in the UK, with the short six-episode order meaning it could potentially hit our screens before season 2 of The Witcher airs. It’s early days yet, but let’s hope that a lot of creative work has already been completed during lockdown and that there are scripts and casting ready to go.
Of course, on top of The Witcher: Blood Origin, we’re also due an anime series entitled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which will chart the origins of Geralt of Rivia’s mentor and father figure Vesemir. That was announced back in January, though we still don’t have a release date for it. Regardless, despite there being a longer-than-anticipated wait for the second season of The Witcher, fans will at least have these awesome sounding projects to chew on.