Move over, Geralt of Rivia: Netflix has ordered “The Witcher: Blood Origin,” a prequel series that will tell the story of the “origin of the very first Witcher.”
“Blood Origin” will be a six-part, live-action limited series, the streaming service announced Monday. Here’s its logline: “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.”
This marks the second “Witcher” offshoot to be ordered by Netflix, the first being an anime film called “The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.”
Declan de Barra will executive produce and serve as showrunner on “The Witcher” prequel series, with “The Witcher” showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich also executive producing. Additional executive producers include Jason Brown and Sean Daniel from Hivemind, and Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko from Platige Films. Andrzej Sapkowski, the Polish author who wrote the “Witcher” novels, will serve as creative consultant on the series.
“As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin,’” de Barra said in a statement Monday. “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.”
“I am so thrilled to collaborate with Declan and the Netflix team on ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin,’” Hissrich said. “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.”
Sapkowski added: “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 Witcher: Blood Origin” will shoot in the UK, according to Netflix, though no production start date was given with the series announcement.
Meanwhile, filming on the second season of “The Witcher” is set to resume next month in the UK after being shut down in March due to the coronavirus.
Readers can find TheWrap’s interview with Hissrich about what’s to come for Geralt (Henry Cavill), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan) in Season 2 here.