Is Blood Origin connected to The Witcher? We discuss the anticipated series and its connection to the fantasy world we are familiar with.
The world of The Witcher is coming back to Netflix this December with the upcoming live-action miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin. The four-part event stars Michelle Yeoh, Sophia Brown, Laurence O’Fuarain, Minnie Driver, Lenny Henry, Mirren Mack, Nathaniel Curtis, Dylan Moran, and Jacob Collins-Levy.
It was first announced by Netflix in 2020, following the success of the Henry Cavill-led first season of The Witcher. Back then, it was said that the series would be six episodes long, though in a recent interview, co-creator Declan de Barra explained that the story flowed better as four episodes, so they changed their minds about it in the editing room.
On December 25th, 2022, the day Blood Origin is set to premiere on Netflix, approaches us, one may be wondering how the new series connects to Henry Cavill’s story, and what is the timeline for the upcoming show when compared to the original series.
What is the story of The Witcher: Blood Origin?
The Witcher: Blood Origin takes place 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher. The logline for the series reads as follows:
Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – exploring 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.
Is Blood Origin connected to The Witcher?
Both series are set in the same fantasy world, and share some common themes and similar fantasy elements, from monsters to witchery or non-human species. Since it is so far removed in time from The Witcher, no characters from the main show are expected to appear. The depiction of the “Conjunction of the Spheres”, though, is an important element of the history of the Continent, and could be relevant to future seasons of The Witcher.
This event, which in the books took place 1,500 years before the days of Geralt of Rivia, happened when multiple universes, or “spheres”, collided and different species coming from different worlds started to live on the Continent. It is name-dropped in the second season and is the main reason why Geralt has so many monsters to hunt down.
Is The Witcher and The Witcher: Blood Origin the same?
No, Blood Origin depicts the events leading up to the “Conjunction of the Spheres”, a major incident that was the inception of the Continent as we know it 1,200 years later, in the main show The Witcher. It is therefore a prequel miniseries to the main events of the show. The “Conjunction of the Spheres” wasn’t explained in detail in the books, and the new series could pick up the baton to enlight us on how the world that we know from the main show came to be.
Is Blood Origin a spin-off of The Witcher?
Technically, yes, as The Witcher is acting as the main throughline of several projects Netflix is cooking up set in the same fantasy world. The streamer, though, has been referring to it as a prequel miniseries instead, referring to the fact that it will take place 1,200 years before Geralt of Rivia started hunting down monsters in the Continent. Other projects set in the same fantasy world include the anime film The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which premiered on Netflix in 2021. A third season of The Witcher is currently in post-production, aiming at a late 2023 release, and a fourth one has already been greenlit, though Henry Cavill will be stepping down as the lead character, with Luke Hemsworth picking up the mantle.
Are you a fan of The Witcher? Are you looking forward to Blood Origin? Let us know in the comments below!
