Set 1,200 years before Geralt’s tale, The Witcher: Blood Origin compresses an ancient saga of elves, power, and the very first Witcher into a brief Netflix miniseries-so how many episodes does this prequel actually hold?
The Witcher: Blood Origin was supposed to be the far-reaching story of some of the most important moments of the universe’s world, including the Conjunction of the Spheres and the creation of the first witcher. And while it certainly is a little bit about that, mostly it isn’t. But what may shock fans more than the series’ quality is that such a massive-seeming prequel was attempted in just four total episodes, the final count for the Netflix miniseries.
That isn’t too surprising, given that the series was originally announced as having a total of six episodes. In fact, that’s how many were written and possibly how many were shot. But while they were putting the series together in editing, showrunners Declan de Barra and Lauren S. Hissrich decided that they didn’t need all six to make the story.
“We could do anything we wanted,” said Barra, talking to AELGAMES about the show’s broad prequel premise. “We wanted to write sort of [a] two-movie(ish) kind of feeling story that was self-contained.
“So because we could do anything we wanted, we shot everything that we wanted. And then in the edit room, we went, ‘OK, what’s the best version of this sandwich we can make?’ The tastiest sandwich you can make that would make you just go, ‘That was not too much, it was not too little. The sauce was just right.’ And that’s what we tried to do.”
Unfortunately, despite the team aiming for “the tastiest sandwich,” the show still largely fails to get into the most interesting parts of the story element or universe’s origins it was supposed to be about. But with so much meat left on the bone, it’s always possible that the Witcher universe could return to this time period, and maybe spend a little more than four episodes there next time.
As for when “next time” might be, Netflix has been a little less clear about that. From everything we know, Blood Origin is just a miniseries, so we shouldn’t expect to see a second season. So any returns to these characters and the time immediately after the Conjunction of the Spheres would likely have to come from an entirely new Witcher spinoff.
Who are the main cast in The Witcher Blood Origin
The Witcher: Blood Origin features an ensemble cast led by several key players.
Sophia Brown stars as Éile, a warrior turned musician from the Raven Clan. Laurence O’Fuarain plays Fjall, an exiled warrior seeking vengeance. Michelle Yeoh portrays Scian (or Scían), the last sword-elf of her nomadic tribe.
Other Main Cast
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Mirren Mack as Merwyn, the ambitious Princess of Xin’trea.
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Lenny Henry as Balor, the scheming Chief Sage and druid.
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Jacob Collins-Levy as Eredin, captain of the Red Riders.
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Francesca Mills as Meldof, a deadly assassin.
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Huw Novelli as Callan / Brother Death.
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Zach Wyatt as Syndril and Lizzie Annis as Zacaré, the celestial twins.
Joey Batey reprises Jaskier, with Minnie Driver as the mysterious Seanchai. All appeared across the show’s four episodes.
What characters do Sophia Brown Laurence O Fuarain and Michelle Yeoh play
Sophia Brown, Laurence O’Fuarain, and Michelle Yeoh lead the cast of The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Sophia Brown plays Éile, a warrior from the Raven Clan who leaves her role as Queen’s guard to become a traveling musician seeking vengeance.
Laurence O’Fuarain portrays Fjall, an exiled elf warrior driven by revenge.
Michelle Yeoh stars as Scían (or Scian), the last sword-elf from her nomadic Ghost Clan, on a mission to reclaim a stolen ancestral blade.
