Netflix revealed today as part of its Tudum event the first look at The Witcher: Blood Origin. This first clip takes us behind the scenes of the show with showrunner Declan de Barra.
The Witcher books that the Netflix series are based on have a rich history woven throughout the story of Geralt of Rivia, and The Witcher: Blood Origin will delve into it. Set 1,200 years before the events of the Witcher TV series–which itself spans well over 50 years–Blood Origin will tell the story of the original Witchers.
This clip, unfortunately, doesn’t give us any fresh information to work with–we see a brief look at the COVID-proofed table read for the show, de Barra shows us a fake eel, and then teleports to Iceland to say that the series is filming there. De Barra hints that the show will use practical effects for the monsters, but buries it in enough jokes and fake-outs that it’s hard to tell if he’s being serious.
Here’s the official logline for the show from Netflix:
“Set in an Elven world 1,200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time–the origin of 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.”
The Witcher: Blood Origin stars Laurence O’Fuarain (Vikings), who will play a warrior named Fjall. “Born into a clan of warriors sworn to protect a king, Fjall carries a deep scar within, the death of a loved one who fell in battle trying to save him,” Netflix said of the character in a tweet announcing the casting.”Fjall will find himself fighting beside the most unlikely of allies as he carves a path of vengeance across a continent in turmoil.” Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) plays Scian, the “last of her nomadic tribe of sword-elves,” a similarly tormented character who, when presented with a chance “to retrieve a stolen sacred sword, taken from her fallen tribe by nefarious means, launches herself into a deadly quest that will change the outcome of the continent.”
The Witcher: Blood Origin is a six-episode limited series executive produced by Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, with original author Andrzej Sapkowski consulting. Netflix has not yet announced a release date for the series. In the meantime, The Witcher Season 2 is less than three months away, and Netflix offered up a couple of clips from the series to tide us over, along with announcing The Witcher Season 3, another Witcher animated film, and a family-friendly Witcher series.
