Set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher television series, Blood Origin will depict the creation of the first Witcher and the events that leads to the Conjunction of the Spheres, something that brought around bringing humans into the elf world.

“Viewers will be surprised because they’re going to see a story told about a period of elven history that was buried by the humans after their arrival and eventual conquest of the continent,” creator Declan de Barra told Tudum in September. “We get to tell a tale about the elves when they were at their height, like all great societies before their fall.”

Leading the series is Sophia Brown (Girl/Haji) as Éile, a warrior queen who leaves to take up being a travelling musician. Chatting to journalists, she talked about the lure of playing her and her story, saying: “Éile is an elite warrior bred from birth to do that and she has decided to walk away from her clan and follow her heart of being a Nomadic musician and she has left her noble guardian of being the Queen’s guardian and has abandoned her family so she has a lot of guilt. It becomes a redemption journey for her that has a lot of self-discovery.”

Laurence O’Fuarain (Game of Thrones) returns to the mythic world alongside Brown as Fjall, a man born into a clan of warriors sworn to protect a king but who sets out in need of vengeance after a loved one dies in battle trying to save him. On his characters, O’Fuarain says he was drawn to his troubled past, saying: “He doesn’t feel life has any sort of meaning in any respect. He carries a deep scar from the trauma he carries with losing his brother and blames himself and cannot let it go so he has a lot of self-hatred with him and I really wanted to tap into that and dive into that part of his psyche, his brashness and cockiness comes from insecurity.”

Also along for the ride are twins Zacaré (Lizzie Annis) and Syndril (Zach Wyatt), elven sages with a “great aptitude for magic and dimensional travel” who also play a pivotal part in the storyline. On the lure of the series, Annis said she was lured to everything about The Witcher: “It was a real pleasure and joy discovering and educating myself about the world of The Witcher through all the wonderful facets of this universe. They are two halves of the same whole, they unlock their true potential when they are together, something we are really excited for fans to see. “

Wyatt echoed his excitement for fans, as well as stepping into the shoes of such an epic world, adding: “I think there is a lot of excitement and nerves about taking part in such a huge world. There are the books, the games, the series, the latter of which was my entry point, understanding the flavor and magic of the show and understanding where Syndril might fit in.”

Also appearing – or should that be reappearing – is Joey Batey aka Jaskier and you can read our interview with him right here.

As for the show itself, well, the question remains about whether, despite all the uncertainty surrounding the future of the franchise, the show is any good or not. Led once again by showrunners Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and Declan de Barra, they have managed to keep the spirit of the previous seasons running through the spin-off but – and forgive us for saying this – but the magic hasn’t quite followed with it. It has all the sword and sorcery elements you would expect, as well as some solid performances notable from Brown, Batey, and the legendary Lenny Henry, but something is missing that makes the show feel inferior to what has gone before, despite the love of the source material of all involved in the making of it. The first two episodes are perhaps the series’ stronger moments with the unveiling of the new story (or, technically, old story in mythology terms) and some bruising, spectacular fight sequences that feel truly Witcher, but once the wheels start turning it grinds to something of a crawl, and feels underwhelming in comparison to what has come before, save a few sporadically entertaining further battles.

Fans, however, might see past its flaws and take solace in the fact that they are getting their fix of The Witcher over the Christmas break before the return of the main series in the Summer of 2023 – sadly, however, it isn’t quite up there with the best television/streaming has offered us in another spectacular year of programmes.

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When you got the call to be in this series, was it a surprise, or were you quite excited? Were you expecting it?

JB: No, I wasn’t! Declan [de Barra, who created Blood Origin] and I get on really well. He worked on Season One of The Witcher and is one of my favourite writers, he gave me a call and said “hey, we’ve got this idea”, and then we shot something whilst they were all shooting the show, it was a big song and dance number. And Bear McCreary wrote the song and it was quite fun. It was a fun opening.

Then I got another call from Declan – this was the surprising one! – whilst I was shooting the third season of The Witcher and said “we’re going to do it at all again, it’s going to be totally different, it’s going to be mayhem and carnage!” And I was like: “Cool!”. I was shooting Witcher S3 on Monday, then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on Blood Origin, and then back to Witcher S3. I was shooting till four in the morning. But I wanted to be involved because Declan is fantastic, I would walk across hot coals for him, I think he’s amazing.

Fans are quite devout about this show already. So when they heard that you were kind of returning in some shape or form, the internet went crazy as your character has been so embraced by my friends. Has all of that sunk in yet?

JB: I’m not particularly an internet man. I’m not particularly savvy with Twitter and Instagram but some friends were showing me some of the Tweets and there is so much lovely supportive energy to the fandom and huge ownership that they have over the cannon and have a protective nature over Mr. Sapkowski’s wonderful work and Henry’s performance for example.

It’s really nice when you see them complimenting you too, it’s like thank you. Everyone on the show is working so hard to try and create something that is a little bit new, different, and engaging, and the blood, sweat, and tears that everyone throws into it are astounding.

How challenging has it been in terms of your character now you are three seasons deep into both his and the show’s mythology?

JB: The myth of the man! Season Three was particularly challenging for everyone. It was a really, really hard shoot but very rewarding and I think everyone in any interview will now say it was the hardest one we’ve ever done. It was the biggest version of the show we’ve ever done, even bigger than this, and just keeps getting bigger every single year, and the days get longer,  you’re shooting multiple units on the same day, running from scene to scene, it can be really fatiguing and galling at times.

Yet, at the end of it, you can see the hard work that everyone’s put into it, no one more so than then Henry who has just the sheer athleticism. Again, you can see the hard work and I hope fans recognise that and see how much we love it.

How is the changing of the guard regarding Henry Cavill and Liam Hemsworth? It’s not uncommon for such things to happen in television over the years but fans have been having their say. What was your reaction to it all heading into the fourth season?

JB: I think it’ll sink in a little bit more when Liam comes in next year. But of course, we’ll miss him [Cavill]. I’ll miss him. He’s a really, really good pal. We were texting the other day and speaking about how weird it will be not seeing him every day. But Liam is attacking this role with serious ferocity, which is exciting and I can’t wait for that freshness and new energy he’s going to bring to the set. I think it’s going to be good.

The Witcher: Blood Origin arrives on Netflix on December 25th

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It’s not like The Witcher to play around with timelines (!) but re-enter the world of The Witcher at time long before Geralt’s story with a new four-part special for Netflix with The Witcher: Blood Origin and by the look of the trailer, it seems epic!

Watch the first teaser here…

Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell 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 world of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.

The four part series, overseen by showrunner and writer Declan de Barra (The Witcher, Origins), is directed by Sarah O’Gorman and Vicky Jewson and stars Sophia Brown (Giri/Haji) and Laurence O’Fuarain (Vikings) as Éile and Fjall, two warriors estranged from their opposing clans.

It also stars Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) in the role of Scían, a sword master, the last of her tribe. Mirren Mack (Sex Education) as Princess Merwyn, Lenny Henry (Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power) as Chief Sage Balor and Minnie Driver (About A Boy) as Seanchaí, Francesca Mills (Harlots) as Meldof, Zach Wyatt (Blithe Spirit) and Lizzie Annis (Night Growler) as celestial twins Syndril and Zacaré, as Huw Novelli (The Snow Spider) as Brother Death.

The Witcher: Blood Origin will be released globally on 25th December on Netflix.

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