The Witcher: Blood Origin: Everything we know about the Netflix spinoff series

The world of The Witcher is getting another Netflix series, but Geralt of Rivia won’t be slaying monsters in this iteration of the dark fantasy franchise.

The Witcher: Blood Origin will be set 1,200 years before Geralt first entered the world of magic and monsters — based on the series of novels by author Andrzej Sapkowski. Netflix announced the six-part prequel series in July.

Here’s everything we know about The Witcher: Blood Origin so far.

Premiere date

Netflix has not announced a specific premiere date for The Witcher: Blood Origin at this point. With season 2 of The Witcher still in production and many other projects delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, there’s no official word on when we can expect cameras begin rolling on Blood Origin or when it will arrive on the streaming service.

The story

Plot details for The Witcher: Blood Origin are scarce, but Netflix indicated the six-part series will follow the first witcher who was created to hunt monsters and supernatural creatures. The show is expected to explore the events that led to the feud between humans and elves, and what brought many of the monstrous creatures to the world that keep Geralt and his fellow witchers busy in the Netflix series and other projects based on Sapkowski’s work.

Behind the camera

The Witcher: Blood Origin was co-created by Declan de Barra, who wrote the season 1 episode of The Witcher titled Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials (in which Geralt and the bard Jaskier attend a royal banquet). The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is the other co-creator of Blood Origin, and will serve as an executive producer on the prequel series as well as continuing as showrunner on the original series.

The cast

There have been no casting announcements for The Witcher: Blood Origin so far, and with many productions still in limbo due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s uncertain when actors will be able to audition for roles in the series. With few details available at this point, it’s also uncertain which characters will be cast in the series.

It’s worth noting that Vesemir, Geralt’s mentor, is one of the oldest living Witchers in Sapkowski’s novels — so there’s a reasonable chance that he could play a role in the prequel series. According to the novels, Vesemir was active as a witcher around 160 years after the first witchers were created.

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