Netflix Orders “The Witcher” Prequel Series
If you enjoyed The Witcher as much as we did, you’ll be pleased to hear that the universe of everyone’s favorite monster-slayer (played by Henry Cavill) just got bigger. Netflix has ordered a six-part limited prequel series titled The Witcher: Blood Origin, which will take us back to the very first Witcher and the moment when the worlds of monsters, men, elves, and more converged.
Blood Origin is set 1200 years before the events in The Witcher and will take place in the world of elves. We’re assuming that, like its’ predecessor, it will be gleefully monstrous. The show’s cast was fantastic, but it was the series deranged bestiary that helped make it such a hit for Netflix. But don’t just take our word for it:
Blood Origin will track the story of the first Witcher and the moment when the disparate worlds of men, elves, and monsters converged. The Witcher‘s writer Declan de Barra will be serving as executive producer and showrunner, and the flagship series’ showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissirch is on board as executive producer. The Witcher is also coming back for a second season, meaning the worlds created first by author Andrzej Sapkowski (he’ll be a creative consultant on Blood Origin) are expanding.
“As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin,” said de Barra in a press statement. “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? 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. Leaving only fragments of a civilization’s true story behind. 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.”
Another thing we loved so much about the first season of The Witcher was how the show explored not only the story of Cavill’s Geralt of Rivera and all the monsters he had to fight, but tracked two very different but very potent female characters who were key to the show’s success, played by Freya Allen and Anya Chalotra. The Witcher didn’t rely merely on Cavill’s charisma or the genius of the show’s creature creators (and special effects), but on exploring the lives of Allan’s Princess Cirilla and Chalotra’s sorceress Yennefer. Adding all of these elements together equaled a series that was just plain fun. Remember fun?
Netflix clearly sees something special in The Witcher, and if the new prequel series is as deftly handled as the original, we’ll be happy to toss another coin to a new Witcher.
Featured image: Henry Cavill is Geralt of Rivera in ‘The Witcher.’ Photo by: Katalin Vermes/Netflix.
