Netflix revealed its Christmas gift very early this year in the form of The Witcher: Blood Origin during its annual Tudum event. The series will take fans back 1200 years before the time of Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), his adoptive daughter Ciri (Freya Allan), and the powerful sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra). In a new interview with Netflix, creator Declan de Barra revealed that the series tells a “tale about the elves when they were at their height, like all great societies before their fall.” He further divulges that the length of the limited series has been cut down to 4 episodes, from the originally announced 6-episode run for the sake of “optimum story flow.”
Blood Origin also takes a look at the ‘Conjunction of the Spheres’ event that merged the realms of elves, monsters, and humans as one. Author Andrzej Sapkowski didn’t elaborate much on the event, in his books, which presented the opportunity to de Barra to map out the historical and societal structure of the Elven world while working as a writer on Season 2 of The Witcher series.
Speaking of cutting down the episode count he further explained that he never wanted there to be a moment through the series “where we’re just stringing the audience along to have an episode. It always had to feel logical and right from a natural storytelling point of view.” He further emphasized that Blood Origin had the advantage of “not being a network show,” being on a streaming platform meant there are “no set rules for times or episode count.” Hence, in the editing room, the four-episode structure is “what happened organically, shaping into four episodes from all the footage we shot. Optimum story flow.” Adding, “I wanted it to be a punch in the face so that you can’t take your eyes off it.” He also revealed that making the limited series felt like a “two-part movie.” Seems like we are looking at a very crisp storyline with some fantastic characters at the center of the upcoming series.
Blood Origin follows a ragtag group of unlikely underdogs: a spiritual and fierce Elven warrior Scian (Michelle Yeoh), a traveling musician Éile (Sophia Brown), and a vengeful Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain) whose journey will unravel the truth of the first prototype Witcher, the Elven society, and the Continent-changing event.
The Witcher: Blood Origin debuts on Netflix this Christmas. Meanwhile, take a look at the teaser below: