By The day has come and gone, TUDUM 2022 finally arrived and brought as a moderate amount of news about both The Witcher and The Witcher: Blood Origin. Stars Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, Michelle Yeoh, Sophia Brown and Laurence O’Fuarain all appeared during the event.
We were promised “A LOT” of news and now we recap all that we saw and heard during TUDUM 2022.
The Witcher and Blood Origin Release Dates
Two most important items on the list are the release dates for The Witcher Season 3 and The Witcher: Blood Origin. While Season 3 only got a release window of Summer 2023 instead of an exact date for now, Netflix confirmed that The Witcher: Blood Origin will be released on December 25, 2022. Both of these announcements were accompanied by their respective teaser posters.
A Look Behind the Scenes of The Witcher Season 3
Henry Cavill took the stage during Tudum and announced that Season 3 would be coming in Summer 2023. Right after that, he introduced his co-stars Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan, who took over in a behind-the-scenes video recorded in June at Longcross Studios. Take a look:
In the video, we can see both stars on the set. While we can’t see Yennefer’s costume, Ciri’s costume is clearly visible and it’s not a new one just yet.
We are then treated to a few shots of a scene being filmed on a fake boat, where a stuntman is seen being blown away by something and Ciri swinging a sword among other things.
The sword is interestingly none other than Geralt’s “smiling” sword, the one with Renfri’s brooch. It’s possible Geralt is there as well. Or alternatively, Geralt could have given Ciri his sword.
The scene is most likely from a Gandja Monteiro episode, who directed episodes 3 and 4 of the new season. It’s hard to say what the scene is really about since it doesn’t appear like anything from the books, but its placing in the season indicates that it could be somewhere close to the events of Gors Velen with Fabio and the wyvern.
The Witcher: Blood Origin Cast Reveals Interesting Facts About the Show
About ten minutes before Henry Cavill and The Witcher, stars of The Witcher: Blood Origin, Michelle Yeoh, Laurence O’Fuarain and Sophia Brown took the stage and revealed several interesting facts about the show.
Firstly, Brown reveals that the instrument her character Eile plays is based on the nyckelharpa, a scandinavian intrument that features heavily in the soundtrack. She also reveals that showrunner and writer Declan de Barra wrote four original songs along with the legendary Bear McCreary.
Secondly, O’Fuarain reveals that his character Fjall has a very distinctive back tattoo written in the Hen Linge. It translates to “As you carried me, now I shall carry you into every battle, every brawl, to slay those who meet us on the field so that you may live as long as I hold breath.”
Finally, Michelle Yeoh reveals that she got to choose the eye color for her character Scian, which is the aquamarine. She says that she made that choice because that would be unique, ethereal and otherworldly. And indeed it is!
Here’s a few more shots from the The Witcher: Blood Origin featurette from TUDUM 2022:
Additionally, Entertainment Weekly confirms our report that Blood Origin will consist of four episodes instead of six.
A new cast member joins Blood Origin
Lastly, for Blood Origin was another announcement. Oscar nominee Minnie Driver has joined the cast of The Witcher: Blood Origin. Driver will play Seanchai, “a shape-shifting collector of old lore with the abilities to travel between time and worlds.”
Seanchai will be the narrator of the series, but as she points out at Tudum, she’ll be more than that, a fully fleshed out character. That is to be understood that it won’t be just a voice-over, but a full physical appearance. It is our understanding that Seanchai is the mystery character that will be seen with Jaskier in the present-day scenes of Blood Origin.
As we reported earlier, Jaskier, in front of a crowd starts telling (or singing) this old tale that is supposed to be Blood Origin, but he is interrupted by someone. This someone tells him that this isn’t how it happened and proceeds to tell the true version.
As we reported the news earlier this year, we thought this mysterious figure was an elf, who survived the events of Blood Origin. It turns out that it’s more than and elf.
Driver further comments on her involvement in Blood Origin: Where The Witcher came from is a whole world and you need some help understanding that. So I’m pivotal in helping people understand where this origin story comes from.”
She continues: “That’s what is so brilliant about [Blood Origin creator Declan de Barra] and also it’s sort of in keeping with all the characters in The Witcher. They are these fully formed, fleshed-out, amazing characters.”
Season 3 of The Witcher is in post-production for a Summer 2023 release. The live-action prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin has been set a Christmas 2022 release. Stay tuned to Redanian Intelligence and do pop into our Discord server to join in on The Witcher conversation.
Maybe they are incorporating the boat monster sequence “dear friend” Geralt had in the last book and adding Ciri into the mix? 🤔