We may be throwing many more coins to our Witcher, and contending with that infectious little ditty poisoning our every thought for a while yet. Netflix announced today that is has ordered a brand new spin-off based on its phenomenally successful The Witcher series.
Dubbed The Witcher: Blood Origin, the spin-off is a six-part live-action series. Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who is the showrunner on the Henry Cavill-starred The Witcher show that released to critical acclaim in late 2019, helms the project alongside screenwriter Declan de Barra, who penned the ‘Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials’ The Witcher episode. Both will act as executive producers.
Blood Origin joins Netflix’s growing portfolio of The Witcher-themed content after the company announced The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, a Studio Mir produced anime film, back in January.
1200 years before Geralt of Rivia, the worlds of monsters, men and elves merged into one, and the first Witcher came to be.
Announcing The Witcher: Blood Origin, a 6 part live-action The Witcher spin-off series from Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich.
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) July 27, 2020
As for what fans can expect from Blood Origin, it’s a prequel of sorts that recounts the circumstances that birthed the very first monster-hunting Witcher. The official promotional blurb reads:
”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.”
Executive producer de Barra offered a bit more insight into the concept underpinning 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.”
If Netflix needed any excuse to regale us with yet more Witcher screen time, then the first season’s wild success certainly played its part. In a Q4 2019 financial report, the streaming giant explained:
”During December, we also launched The Witcher, which is tracking to be our biggest season one TV series ever. Through its first four weeks of release, 76m member households chose to watch this action-packed fantasy, starring Henry Cavill. As a testament to how our hit content can penetrate the global zeitgeist and influence popular culture, the show’s launch drove up sales of The Witcher books and games around the world, and spawned a viral musical hit.”
The shooting of The Witcher: Blood Origin is set to take place in the UK. As for the mainline The Witcher series, work on Season 2 is still on hold (reportedly until August 17th) after production was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether we’re eyeing up more steely-gazed Henry Cavill or the new spin-off, we’ll have to wait until 2021 at the earliest.