The Witcher: Blood Origin Prequel Series Announced by Netflix

A live-action limited series that will run for just six episodes.

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 28 July 2020 13:13 IST

The Witcher: Blood Origin Prequel Series Announced by Netflix

Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes/Netflix

Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra in The Witcher season 1

Highlights

The Witcher: Blood Origin to be shot in the UK
Declan de Barra is the showrunner, EP on prequel
The Witcher EP Lauren Schmidt Hissrich also on board

It usually takes multiple seasons for a TV show to start producing spin-offs, but The Witcher doesn't have that kind of patience. Just over seven months since its premiere, Netflix has announced The Witcher: Blood Origin, a live-action six-part limited series prequel that is set over a thousand years prior to the events of The Witcher season 1. It will offer a look at the first Witcher and the Elven civilisation before it was forever changed by the humans' presence on the Continent.

The Witcher season 1 writer Declan de Barra is the showrunner and executive producer on The Witcher: Blood Origin, alongside The Witcher creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich as executive producer, and author Andrzej Sapkowski — whose eponymous series of books the Netflix series is based on — will serve as a creative consultant on the prequel miniseries. No casting details or release year have been announced.

“As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin,” de Barra said in a mailed statement. “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?”

Schmidt Hissrich added: “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.”

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 isn't the only Witcher spin-off in the works. Back in January, Netflix announced The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, an animated prequel centred on Geralt's (Henry Cavill) mentor and fellow witcher Vesemir (Kim Bodnia), set to be introduced on The Witcher season 2.

Here's the official synopsis for The Witcher: Blood Origin, from Netflix:

“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.”

The Witcher: Blood Origin will be filmed in the UK. A production date has not been announced.

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.
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) July 27, 2020

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