The Witcher: Blood Origin, the prequel to popular Netflix series The Witcher, finally has an official release date–and it’s a holiday gift for all fans, with a Christmas Day streaming launch. Meanwhile, the original Witcher – season 3 – is set for a Summer 2023 return. Both release dates were announced during Netflix’s annual Tudum event.
Blood Origin, which was announced back in the summer of 2020, is, according to its official synopsis, “a story lost to time – the creation of the first prototype 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 series stars Sophia Brown as a warrior-turned-musician, Michelle Yeoh as a sword-elf survivor and Laurence O’Fuarain as a man out for revenge.
The Witcher, which is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy series, has been one of Netflix’s most popular programs. The second season saw 484.3 million watched hours, while the first was an even more impressive 541 million. Certainly many of these The Witcher fans will carry over to Blood Origin–even if they won’t get Henry Cavill’s sword-swingin’, white-haired Geralt of Rivia. Those fans will get more Cavill – they’ll just have to wait a few extra months.
Blood Origin was originally greenlit as a six-episode miniseries. However, it was condensed to four episodes, the bookends of which are written by series co-creator and showrunner Declan de Barra.
Prequels to popular fantasy properties are huge right now, with both Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon proving popular with critics.The Witcher: Blood Origin should be able to comfortably ride this trend, as its core fanbase has proven loyal.
An animated series, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, premiered last year.
The Witcher: Blood Origin arrives on December 25. The Witcher returns at an unspecified Summer 2023 date, which is a change as the show usually premieres during the holiday season.
Are you excited for The Witcher: Blood Origin? What are you hoping to see in the prequel? Let us know in the comments below!