The Witcher: Blood Origin lead exits the series amid production delay

4 comments

The second season of The Witcher had just wrapped at Arborfield Studios and things were well on track to begin filming a six-part prequel, The Witcher: Blood Origin in May at the same location with leads Jodie Turner-Smith and Laurence O’Fuarain.


Sadly, this is no longer the case as Jodie Turner-Smith has exited the prequel due to a scheduling conflict as the production start has been “pushed slightly”. Her role will now be recast.

A Netflix spokesperson commented to Deadline: “Due to a change in the production schedule for The Witcher: Blood Origin limited series, unfortunately Jodie Turner-Smith will no longer be able to continue on in the role of Éile.”

Jodie Turner-Smith was set to play Éile who is described as the following:

An elite warrior blessed with the voice of a goddess, who has left her clan and position as Queen’s guardian to follow her heart as a nomadic musician. A grand reckoning on the continent forces her to return to the way of the blade in her quest for vengeance and redemption.

The series itself was originally set to enter production in May 2021 and wrap in September, but this is no longer the case now. There is no word as of yet on any other changes within the remaining cast or crew.


So how much has the production been delayed and why all of a sudden since things seemed well on track and under control? We can’t reveal much at the moment as we cannot say for certain, but for months we’ve been hearing rumours about potential significant changes regarding all Witcher productions either starting with Blood Origin or later with Season 3.

Again, we can’t say whether this is what we think this is so we’ll investigate it more before expanding on it further.

What does this means for The Witcher Season 3? Will its eventual production start be pushed back as well? Maybe, maybe not. We don’t know Henry Cavill’s schedule in-between Season 2 and Season 3, although we have heard he was set to do a feature film not long after Season 2.


In these uncertain times, stay tuned for Redanian Intelligence for more The Witcher and Blood Origin updates as Season 2 is in post-production and on track to be released later this year.

4 comments on “The Witcher: Blood Origin lead exits the series amid production delay”

  1. “rumours about potential significant changes regarding all Witcher productions”

    As long as we still have Henry for s3, we’re good.

  2. Wow, I did not see this coming! I hope the delay won’t be long and that it won’t affecet The Witcher’s s3. I know they just finished filming s2 but I want to know that s3 is safe! I hope we;ll have more news soon. Thanks Redanian Intelligence for all the updates. Your info are always spot on.

  3. Oh no! What happened? I hope s3 of The Witcher won’t be delayed. It will be almost 2 years since we got s1 untill we get s2. I hope they can work something and won’t be any further delays. What if Blood Origin can’t go into filming because they’ll film a part of The Witcher s3 this season, then go on a hiatus and continue s3 after Blood Origin wraps? Idk, I just want things to run smoothly on The Witcher. We need the 7 seasons and the complete story!

  4. I bet the truth is she was being her typical difficult self and they decided to mutually depart ways.

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