Netflix announces six episode prequel mini-series The Witcher: Blood Origin

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The second season of Netflix's hit series The Witcher had to halt production due to the COVID-19 pandemic (and cast member Kristofer Hivju even tested positive for the virus), but the show is set to resume filming in August. Netflix is also working on an animated feature called THE WITCHER: NIGHTMARE OF THE WOLF, which will center on Vesemir, who was mentor to the show's main character Geralt of Rivia. Now the streaming service has announced that they have a third Witcher project in development, and this one is going to take viewers back in time even further than the Vesemir feature.

The Witcher: Blood Origin is a six part, live-action limited series that's 

set in an Elven world 1,200 years before the world of The Witcher. The show will chart the origins 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.

Declan de Barra is executive producer and showrunner on Blood Origin. Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Jason Brown and Sean Daniel from Hivemind, and Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko from Platige Films are also on board as executive producers. Andrzej Sapkowski, who wrote the series of novels The Witcher is based on, will serve as creative consultant.

De Barra had this to say about the new limited series: 

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."

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."

I enjoyed the first season of The Witcher so much, I'm guaranteed to check out anything else Witcher-related that Netflix wants to throw my way.