The Witcher: Blood Origin: Release Date, Trailer, Cast, and More

The next chapter in The Witcher universe is coming at the end of the year. The first spin-off of the Netflix fantasy series (inspired by the novels and video games of the same name), the animated movie The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, premiered in 2021. However, Netflix is now taking fans back in time with a live-action tale from the universe. The Witcher: Blood Origin will reveal the backstory between the Conjunction of Spheres that brought the World of Men, World of Elves, and World of Monsters together in a violent collision to create the political quagmire and monster-infested land The Witcher fans know as The Continent. The prequel series will take place 1200 years before Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) held the title of Witcher. Blood Origin will also tell the story of the creation of the first of Geralt's monster-hunting kind.

The news of the new Witcher series came in July 2020. As of now, no premiere date has been set for The Witcher: Blood Origin, but we already have some information regarding what to expect of the anticipated drama. Here's everything we know about The Witcher: Blood Origin so far.

Latest News

It was revealed during TUDUM on Sept. 24 that The Witcher: Blood Origins will premiere on Christmas Day, 2022. It was also revealed that Minnie Driver has joined the cast in a mysterious role that will connect "Blood Origins' past with The Witcher's future."

Trailer

The first teaser trailer for Blood Origin debuted after the end credits of The Witcher Season 2 finale and gave us a good look at Michelle Yeoh leading a group of elves in a fight for their world. While no one speaks in the teaser trailer, you can immediately tell that tensions are high and there is a lot of bloodshed. "Every story has a beginning," the teaser text reveals, and it looks like this one is going to be as rough as whatever Geralt has to face next on the flagship series. 

Casting

A major character is being recast. Jodie Turner-Smith has exited The Witcher: Blood Origin due to scheduling conflicts, Deadline reports. Turner-Smith had been set to play a leading role as Éile, a warrior-turned-musician who has left her position as Queen's guardian. A grand reckoning on the continent forces her to return to the way of the blade as she goes on a mission for revenge and redemption. Turner-Smith was replaced by Sophia Brown.

Michelle Yeoh has joined the cast. Netflix announced in July that Michelle Yeoh joined the series as Scían, the very last of her nomadic tribe of sword-elves. The character is described as an artist with the blade, on a deadly quest that will change the fate of the Continent.

The rest of the cast has filled out. Several additional cast members were announced in mid-2021. Mirren Mack will play the role of Merwyn. Lenny Henry (Lord of the Rings series) is Balor, Jacob Collins Levy (Young Wallander) is Eredin, Lizzie Annis is Zacaré, Huw Novelli (The Capture) is Callan "Brother Death," Francesca Mills (Harlots) is Meldof, Amy Murray is Fenrik, Nathaniel Curtis (It's a Sin) is Brían, Zach Wyatt (Karen Pirie) is Syndril, and Dylan Moran (Black Books) will play Uthrok One-Nut. 

Plot

The series will explain what led to the Conjunction of the Spheres. Set in an elven world 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher, Blood Origin will focus on a period of time that was never deeply explored in Andrzej Sapkowski's novels and short stories that inspired the Netflix series or popular video games: the period leading up to the Conjunction of the Spheres.

The Witcher is set in a multiverse, and it is during the Conjunction of the Spheres that a number of these worlds collided, destroying some of the realms and merging others. Referenced only briefly in The Witcher's first season, the Conjunction of the Spheres is what brought monsters and magic into the realm. It was also what brought humans into it, with their own world having been destroyed during the cataclysmic event.

Everything to Know about The Witcher Season 2

It will reveal the origin of the first witcher. Once humans learned to harness magic, they were able to create a mutagenic tincture, the Trial of the Grasses, that would transform those who took it (and survived) into powerful warriors designed to fight monsters, aka witchers. Blood Origin will introduce viewers to the very first of the witchers and share the story of how they came to be.

Behind the Scenes

Netflix treated fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the Witcher prequel series during TUDUM, the streaming service's virtual global fan event. Check out the world they are building in a time before the "conjunction of the spheres."

The show has a great team behind it. Declan de Barra will serve as showrunner of the new series. De Barra was a writer on the first season of The Witcher, writing "Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials," and he wrote the Season 2 premiere. In addition to his writing duties, de Barra also contributed his vocals to multiple songs from The Witcher Season 1.

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who is showrunner of The Witcher, will serve as an executive producer on The Witcher: Blood Origin, while Andrzej Sapkowski, who wrote the Witcher books that inspired both series, will serve as a creative consultant.

On Sept. 17, 2020, de Barra shared that the writers' room had gathered for the first time, revealing the writers who'd be working on The Witcher: Blood Origin. They include Kirsten Van Horn (Snowpiercer), Aaron Stewart-Ahn (Mandy), Alex Meenehan (Bosch), Tania Lothia (Swamp Thing), Pooja Gupta (Married at First Sight: The First Year), Tasha Huo (Women in the Dirt: Landscape Architects Shaping Our World), and Troy Dangerfield (Castle).

The show also has great directors. Sarah O'Gorman (Cursed, The Last Kingdom) has been tapped to direct Episodes 1, 4, and 6 while Vicky Jewson (Born of War), will direct Episodes 2, 3, and 5. 

Everything Else

There's plenty of other Witcher content to stream. In addition to Blood Origin, Netflix also has an animated prequel movie, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which was released in August. The film follows the story of Vesemir, Geralt's witcher mentor and the closest thing he has to a father. Vesemir appears in The Witcher Season 2, played by Killing Eve's Kim Bodnia.

Where to Watch

The Witcher: Blood Origin will stream on Netflix. No premiere date has been announced.

The Witcher is available to stream on Netflix.