By Netflix, it seems, is going all out on The Witcher franchise. First, the main show, led by A-lister Henry Cavill, was renewed early for a second season and had a third season secured according to reliable insiders, then Nightmare of the Wolf was announced, an animated film, telling the story of young Vesemir. Now, a new live-action spin-off has been announced, titled The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Created by The Witcher writers Lauren Hissrich and Declan de Barra, Blood Origin, a six-part limited series, will reportedly be set 1200 years before the events of the main saga and tell about the events that led to the Conjunction of the Spheres and the creation of the very first witcher.
The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski will provide his services as a creative consultant to this project. “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.”, he said.
Declan de Barra who will serve as the showrunner offered his comment: “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 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.
Blood Origin will be shot in the UK as is the main series. Jason Brown and Sean Daniel from Hivemind, and Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko from Platige Films will each serve as executive producers.
When will Blood Origin be released? Well, assuming they use the same production hub as the main series, Arborfield Studios, they can only begin production there after Season 2 is wrapped in February. It isn’t even guaranteed they will even begin right after that. If they beging production mid-2021, with a standard approximate 6 months filming + 6 months post-production schedule, we should expect Blood Origin to drop on Netflix in 2022.
Redanian Intelligence is excited to start investigating this and discover what can be discovered as soon as possible. We’ll keep you informed.
American screenwriters was probably fucking bored. But maybe they will have then less time for original ideas like Amazons from Brooklyn in main story line.
does spin off mean there no connection to main series?
because it will be so cool to see some character appear in both show.
anyway good news im always happy to see more witcher
season one has info dump on us too fast
this Conjunction of the Spheres story will be good to the franchise.
because one of the probelm witcher has is confuse new audience.
That’s great! Netflix is really investing in the Witcher franchise and that means the quality will be getting better and better. I can’t wait for s2 of the main show, for Nightmare of the Wolf and Blood Origin.
This is getting ridiculous, it’s as if HBO after filming just ONE season of Game of Thrones decided, yeah we’re doing two prequels in the same time, the witcher show itself did not have time to stand on it’s feet yet and they are now trying to milk it this much? Oh boy it seems netflix needs that money more than I thought, and they said that in quarantine the platform had it’s harvest time… :). As for the guy wondering what the world looked like before, read again The Voice of Reason ;).
“You’re reading Roderick de Novembre? As far as I remember, there are mentions of witchers there, of the first ones who started work some three hundred years ago. In the days when the peasants used to go to reap the harvest in armed bands, when villages were surrounded by a triple stockade, when merchant caravans looked like the march of regular troops, and loaded catapults stood on the ramparts of the few towns night and day. Because it was us, human beings, who were the intruders here. This land was ruled by dragons, manticores, griffins and amphisboenas, vampires and werewolves, striga, kikimoras, chimerae and flying drakes. And this land had to be taken from them bit by bit, every valley, every mountain pass, every forest and every meadow. And we didn’t manage that without the invaluable help of witchers. But those times have gone, Geralt, irrevocably gone.”
…
“Upriver we saw their towns, as delicate as if they were woven from the morning mist out of which they loomed. It seemed as if they would disappear a moment later, blown away on the wind which rippled the surface of the water. There were little palaces, white as nenuphar flowers; there were little towers looking as though they were plaited out of ivy; there were bridges as airy as weeping willows. And there were other things for which we could find no word or name. Yet we already had names for everything which our eyes beheld in this new, reborn world. Suddenly, in the far recesses of our memories, we found the words for dragons and griffins, mermaids and nymphs, sylphs and dryads once more. For the white unicorns which drank from the river at dusk, inclining their slender necks towards the water. We named everything. And everything seemed to be close to our hearts, familiar to us, ours. Apart from them. They, although so resembling us, were alien. So very alien that, for a long time, we could find no word for their strangeness.”
Hen Gedymdeith, Elves and Humans
…
“You cannot comprehend the ideas of brilliant people! Such as Idarran and Alzur, his teacher, who were graced with genius and extraordinary talent! Who invented and created great works, meant to serve humanity, without taking profit, nor taking base mammon into account, not recreation nor diversion, but solely progress and the commonweal! But what can you apprehend of such things? You apprehend nothing, nothing, nothing, not a scrap!”
“And indeed, I tell you further,” Ortolan panted, “that you have dishonoured the work of your own fathers with this imprudent murder. For it was Cosimo Malaspina, and after him his student Alzur, yes, Alzur, who created the witchers. They invented the mutation owing to which men like you were bred. Owing to which you exist, owing to which you walk upon this earth, ungrateful one. You ought to esteem Alzur, his successors and their works, and not destroy them!” Season of Storms
By the way if they are really conflating the Conjunction with the witcher foundation, then I will be disappointed, at least show us Alzur dammit! Such an impressive mage…on the other hand they will treat him like Vilgefortz and make him into weak ass, pathetic hack 😉 and questioning the aesthetics of elven architecture in the show, I doubt we would see those palaces. Alright I had my fun and a laugh, but now…I don’t see it working, the worldbuilding already was limping in the netflix show and now they want to make entire backstory of their own?
Thanks for the quotes from Sapkowski’s wonderful work. Because these people are too lazy or too stupid or because of their self-expression, they rhyme with things that have no relation to the original. And the poor illiterate cheer and clap and rejoice. Who wants to eat cakes when they can have dry bread?
I did not see this coming! Although I’m here for Geralt’s story (and Yennefer’s and Ciri’s) I find these news exciting. Netflix really found it’s best hit to date and that will benefit the main series.
I did not see this coming! Although I’m here for Geralt’s story (and Yennefer’s and Ciri’s) I find these news exciting. Netflix really found it’s best hit to date and that will benefit the main series.
I want The Witcher to get its 6/7 seasons they plan with Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra and complete the story of the novels. (And maybe a movie after that with the wild hunt😉) All the other additions to the lore are welcome and can’t wait to see them. I’m super excited about the animated movie as well with young Vessemir. 😊
Bloody great! Bring more of The Witcher!!!
This was unexpected. Good news I guess, the great thing is that it takes place 1200 years before our show and it won’t mess with it. I started watching the Witcher for Geralt and his adventures and that’s my main attraction but the world is rich and it would be great to see the time after the conjuction of the spheres and how the first Witcher was created. But I’d also want to see how Geralt became a Witcher and his trials of the grasses and I hope the main show give us that. I believe it will after those flashbacks in the finale and his coming to Kaer Morhen.
The authors come up with something again. In the main novels, Zoltan tells how it happened with the settlement. The first in the world were the gnomes, then the dwarfs arrived, then the elves, the last people. In between there were the “stranded monsters” vampires, ghouls etc. People landed, discovered the magic for themselves, multiplied and waged wars against each other and against the elves. In the novel “Time of Storms” you can find out where the other monsters come from. They were made in the wizards’ laboratories. To contain these monsters, the wizards created the sorcerers. There was no 1200 year old history. But if you’re too lazy to read the sources.
I’m watching for Henry Cavill’s Geralt so as long as it doesn’t delay or affect The original Witcher series I don’t care much.
Great! It’s nice to see that Netflix is so confident in the Witcher. Now they have to make Henry Cavill an executive producer in the ongoing series and everything will be fine.
I can’t say this surprises me, maybe it’s a little early but it was to be expected. But damn, give us more Geralt in season 2, him fighting monsters, more witchers and more of the witcher mythology and less “new” things. Then make all the spin-offs you want.
I want more Geralt before I care enough to watch another series. Hopefully s2 will further explore Geralt and give us more badass moments like Blaviken.
The irony is the Star Wars fans beg for years to get an old republic show taking place thousand years before the movies and The Witcher does it in a year!
it’s a long shot but with the way they jump timelines I’d love to see a cameo of Geralt. Maybe the story of Blood Origin will end years later when Geralt is brought to Kaer Morhen or maybe there is a vision or a flashforward of a future Witcher who is none other than our Geralt! A long shot but it would be a fantastic lead in to s3 of The Witcher.