Netflix announced on July 27 that they would be expanding upon the fantasy world known in The Witcher to create a six-episode limited series prequel, Blood Origin, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. In the new limited series, Declan de Barra (The Originals, Iron Fist) will serve as showrunner.
The Witcher stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Justice League) as Gerald of Rivia, a mutated monster hunter who struggles to fit in among people as they have shown that they can be even more sinister than his kind. The series also stars Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust, The ABC Murders), Freya Allan (The Third Day, Bluebird), Joey Batey (The White Queen, Knightfall), MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street, The Descent), and Eamon Farren (The ABC Murders, Chained). Its prequel series Blood Origin will be set 1,200 years before the events seen in The Witcher occurred and will detail the origin story of the initial Witcher.
Alongside de Barra, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (The End’s Beginning) will executive produce. In a statement, de Barra stated his excitement for the prequel, “As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story of The Witcher: Blood Origin. A question that 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… 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,” via The Hollywood Reporter.
Alongside Hissrich, Jason Brown (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark), Sean Daniel (The Mummy, The Best Man Holiday), Tomek Baginski (The Cathedral), and Jarek Sawko (Fallen Art, The Cathedral) will executive produce. Filming of the prequel will take place in the U.K. although exact dates are unknown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The season 1 trailer of The Witcher can be viewed below.
Image Credit: Raymond Flotat