Ever since The Witcher premiered on Netflix, becoming one of the biggest original series that the platform had ever released, fans have been anxiously waiting for any sign of a second season release date. But sadly due to production pushbacks and the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been little news about when that will finally make its way to people’s computers and TV screens.
However, in July of 2020, Netflix announced more The Witcher universe news in the form of The Witcher: Blood Origin, a spinoff series, giving fans of the popular fantasy show something to hold them over until a trailer hopefully drops for The Witcher Season 2. But what exactly is this new series going to be about? And who will be in it? What is the point? These are the quick facts that we know about The Witcher: Blood Origin.
The Witcher: Blood Origin Will Be A Limited Series
In the announcement that was released by Netflix, they reported that the new spinoff would be a limited series, and would only have a total of six episodes.
While it’s not a surprise that the series is going to be so short considering the length of the original The Witcher, it’s still a shame to see that it will only be for one season. However, what they plan to cover in those six episodes will more than likely make up for the limited length.
The Witcher: Blood Origin Will Take Place 1200 Years Before The Events Of The Witcher
Netflix said that The Witcher: Blood Origin is going to be taking place 1200 years before the events of the current show, so don’t expect to see the beauty that is Henry Cavill taking up our screens anytime soon.
Even with everyone's favorite witcher not in this limited series, there will be plenty of witchery, magic, and monsters to learn about.
The Witcher: Blood Origin Will Follow The Rise And Fall Of The Elven Civilization
One of the main themes of The Witcher: Blood Origin is that it will cover one of the biggest mysteries in The Witcher series – the rise and fall of the Elven civilization, and how over time they became the minority compared to humans and monsters.
The Conjunction of the Spheres, as it’s called in the series, is when the worlds of the elves, humans, and monsters combined into one, creating an entirely new era for these three separate species, and practically knocking the elves out of existence or into hiding. From what Declan de Barran said about the limited series, they'll aim to explore what the Elven world was really like before the arrival of the humans. Considering the story of the elves was pretty glossed over in the first season of The Witcher compared to Geralt's adventures, it will be nice to learn how this once prominent civilization fell so quickly.
The Story Of The First Witcher Will Be A Part Of The Witcher: Blood Origin
The other topic The Witcher: Blood Origin will be covering is the birth of the first witcher, and how that species of monster hunters came to be. The creation of how a witcher comes to be is something that is rarely covered in the first season of The Witcher.
All we really know about Geralt is that he’s been like this for hundreds of years now and that there are very few witchers left, so something bad happened between his rise to the top and his beginning. If they plan to get into the specifics of how a witcher is made, The Witcher: Blood Origin will hopefully answer many questions that fans have about Geralt that were left untouched in the first season.
However, one does need to remember that the Conjunction of the Spheres and the creation of the first witcher are centuries apart. In fact, in the official map from Netflix, they show that the first witcher was created 967 years after the Conjunction.
It’s interesting that the six-episode limited series is going to be covering this large time span, but if they are doing the sort of a format like The Mandalorian where each episode is going to be covering a completely different story in the world of The Witcher, I could see it happening.
A Release Date Has Been Set For The Witcher: Blood Origin, But There Are Rumors That Filming Could Start As Soon As May
Since this series was announced not that long ago, there hasn’t been much that has come out in terms of a trailer or even a set release date. We still don’t even know when Season 2 of The Witcher will be premiering, so I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t get news about The Witcher: Blood Origin until everything is squared away with The Witcher.
However, there have been leaks that have come out recently of possible filming. According to Redanian Intelligence, a blog that covers all the latest The Witcher news, they reported that filming might take place later this spring. In their November post, they said that Recapped, a website that has an “impeccable” track record with The Witcher leaks, reported that Netflix is currently looking to cast two female leads: Éile “The Lark” Lithe and Princess Merwyn, and that filming is supposed to take place between May and December of 2021.
If this is information is accurate, a possible premiere date might be coming as early as 2022, that is if post-production runs smoothly with the COVID-19 pandemic. As always take this with a grain of salt because anything can happen, but if filming does indeed start to take place then, we might get some news sooner rather than later. Netflix's July 2020 announcement for the series notes that filming for The Witcher: Blood Origin would take place in the UK, but they did not offer any time for when that might be.
What We Know About The Witcher: Blood Origin Cast
While there hasn’t been much news covering The Witcher: Blood Origin ensemble and the casting surrounding that, there have been some announcements on who will be starring role. Variety recently reported that Jodie Turner-Smith, more commonly known for her part in Queen & Slim, will be tackling the lead character in The Witcher: Blood Origin. She is going to be playing Éile, that role that we had mentioned earlier from Recapped. According to Variety:
[Éile] was blessed with the voice of a goddess and leaves her clan and role as the queen’s guardian to follow her heart and embark on a journey 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.
With the lead character cast, hopefully it won't be long before we hear more casting news and more confirmed details about the characters. But for now, all we can do is wait and see who will be taking their place in The Witcher universe.
No matter what, there are going to be some fantastic magical tales that will be told, regardless of when the limited series premieres. What are you excited about regarding The Witcher: Blood Origin?
