The Witcher empire is ever-expanding; at the moment, we’re awaiting season three of The Witcher; the debut of The Witcher: Blood Origin; and, at some more distant date, a family-friendly Witcher spinoff and another anime Witcher film.
But first comes Blood Origin, the Michelle Yeoh-starring prequel series that details the creation of the first Witcher and the Conjunction of the Spheres. Does that sound festive? One hopes so, as it arrives on Netflix on December 25th.
Henry Cavill shan’t return as Geralt until summer 2023, though.
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This weekend, another member of Blood Origin’s cast was announced: Minnie Driver, who “plays a Seanchaí, a shapeshifting storyteller that can travel between worlds and times,” according to series creator Declan De Barra. Blood Origin is set before humans colonized the elves’ world; De Barra explains, “This is the lead up to that story of colonization, and we explain that in a very nuanced way. I’ve always been fascinated with societies at their height right before they fall. And the stuff that’s lost in that fall.”
Yeoh stars as Scian, who is the last of her tribe and an expert swordsman; in the first teaser, she seems to team up with Laurence O’Fuarain’s Fjall and Sophia Brown’s Éile—all three elite warriors, and all with heavy histories.
The cast also includes Mirren Mack as Princess Merwyn; Lenny Henry as Chief Sage Balor, “the right hand of the king”; Zach Wyatt as Syndril and Lizzie Annis as Zacaré, who are called “celestial twins” for the timing of their births; and a half-dozen other folks about whom we don’t know much yet:
Dylan Moran as Uthrok One-Nut
Nathaniel Curtis as Brían
Jacob Collins Levy as Eredin
Huw Novelli as Callan “Brother Death”
Francesca Mills as Meldof
Amy Murray as Fenrik
The Witcher: Blood Origin premieres on Netflix on December 25th.