Streaming
Toss A Coin In Celebration: A Witcher Prequel Is Coming To Netflix
Before there was Henry Cavill, there was the original Witcher.
Get ready to toss even more coins to your Witcher. On Monday, July 27, it was announced that Netflix has ordered a Witcher spinoff series, titled Blood Origin. As per the official description obtained by Bustle, the project is considered to be a limited series and prequel to the Netflix original, which debuted on the streaming platform in 2019. Blood Origin will be set in an elven world 1200 years before Henry Cavill's character took up the mantle, and will follow "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, who wrote the first episode of The Witcher, has been named as the spinoff's showrunner and executive producer, while Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich will serve an a co-EP alongside him. Andrzej Sapkowski, who penned the novels upon which the series is based, is signed up to be a creative consultant to the new off-shoot.
As of now, no official release date has been provided, though it is slated to be filmed in the UK. Meanwhile, the second season of The Witcher, which saw its production halted in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is planning to resume filming on Monday, August. 17 with the hope of returning to Netflix sometime in 2021.
For his part, though, de Barra couldn't be more excited to spearhead a deep dive into the mystical history of the Elven community. “As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin," de Barra said in a statement, as per the official press release. "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?"
Meanwhile, Hissrich is eager to embrace the challenges of exploring a new aspect of this beloved fantasy saga. “I am so thrilled to collaborate with Declan and the Netflix team on The Witcher: Blood Origin," she stated. "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.”
And perhaps, if we're lucky, the new series will provide us with an equally catchy song like "Toss A Coin To Your Witcher" proved to be.
