The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel TV series announced by Netflix

(Image credit: Netflix)

Ahead of The Witcher season 2 resuming filming in August, Netflix has announced a new series called The Witcher: Blood Origin. It's a six-part prequel spin-off set 1200 years before Geralt of Rivia's time, and you can expect it to have an entirely new cast and story.

This series comes from Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, responsible for Netflix's adaptation of The Witcher, and Declan de Barra, who wrote an episode of the show.

The plot of The Witcher: Blood Origin is about the first ever Witcher, and how their story panned out as the "worlds of monsters, men and elves merged into one," in Netflix's words.

It's not the only Witcher spin-off coming from Netflix. The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is an animated special that was announced earlier this year. A now-deleted synopsis on Netflix said that'll focus on Vesemir, a key character coming up in The Witcher season 2, to be played Kim Bodnia of Killing Eve fame.

That's a lot of Witcher coming up. Here's the announcement from Netflix:

Why Netflix is doubling down on The Witcher 

The Witcher was among the 10 most watched Netflix shows of 2019 in the US and the UK, despite only releasing in mid-December, which offers some idea of why the streaming service wants to double down on it.

The show has a long turnaround on production, too, due to its effects-heavy nature. Combined with the coronavirus shutdown that occurred earlier this year, that means The Witcher season 2 is still a long way away. 

There's surely a big appetite for more stories set in the universe of the books by Andrzej Sapkowski – hence the emergence of these spin-offs. 

TOPICS
Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.

Latest in Netflix
Netflix Ads
Netflix adds HDR10+ support – great news for Samsung TV owners, but don't expect LG and Sony to do the same any time soon
Wonka poster
Netflix cooks up sweet new reality TV series based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and it's a dream come true for me
Eddie Miller (Stephen Graham) looks as his anxious son Jamie (Owen Cooper) in a prison cell.
Netflix's #1 show Adolescence is one of the best crime dramas I've seen – here are 3 more with over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes
Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore, swinging a golf club while a crowd watches
Netflix confirms Happy Gilmore's long-awaited comeback in new trailer, and I hope it won't be a swing and a miss
A still from Netflix's new miniseries Adolescence starring Stephen Graham
Adolescence is the TV show of the year – here’s why the Netflix crime drama had me gripped from start to finish
Sakata in Demon City holds a large cleaver-like weapon
Demon City on Netflix is Japan's answer to John Wick with a dash of Oldboy, and it rocks
Latest in News
inZOI promotional material.
inZOI has become the most wishlisted game on Steam, but I wouldn't get too caught up in the hype
Xbox Series X and Xbox wireless controller set to a green background
Xbox Insiders are currently testing a new Game Hub feature that looks useful, but I've got mixed feelings about it
A stylized depiction of a padlocked WiFi symbol sitting in the centre of an interlocking vault.
Broadcom warns of worrying security flaws affecting VMware tools
Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface Pro devices on a table.
Hate Windows 11’s search? Microsoft is fixing it with AI, and that almost makes me want to buy a Copilot+ PC
Oura Ring 4
Activity tracking on Oura Ring is about to get a whole lot better, but I've got bad news about your step count
Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
Cleaned your Pixel Buds Pro 2 recently? If not, you might be getting worse sound