The Netflix NX twitter account announced The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to their acclaimed adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher fantasy novel series. No details regarding casting or release date are available yet but it'll be helmed by The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and series writer Declan De Barra.
Set 1200 years before the events of the first season, Blood Origin appears to explore the origins of the Continent and the creation of the first Witcher.
Released in December 2019, Netflix's The Witcher won their second biggest audience for an original series in 2019. Adapting the first two short story collections 'The Last Wish' and 'Sword of Destiny', the series was the third most demanded series after Stranger Things and The Mandalorian.
The Witcher was originally developed as a standalone film, but Netflix Vice President of International Originals Kelly Luegenbiehl convinced the producers to turn it into an 8 part series. He asked how he could possibly "take eight novels and just turn it into a film?" Netflix announced a second season for The Witcher before the first was released and clearly have faith in the series with this new spin off.
In a statement to Deadline, Declan De Barra said, “As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin. A question has been burning in my mind ever since I first read The Witcher books – What was the Elven world really like before the cataclysmic arrival of the humans? I’ve always been fascinated by the rise and fall of civilizations, how science, discovery, and culture flourish right before that fall. How vast swathes of knowledge are lost forever in such a short time, often compounded by colonization and a rewriting of history. Leaving only fragments of a civilization’s true story behind. The Witcher: Blood Origin will tell the tale of the Elven civilization before its fall, and most importantly reveal the forgotten history of the very first Witcher.”
Netflix has also announced an anime film Nightmare of the Wolf, about Geralt's mentor, Vesemir. Nightmare will come from the same studio as The Legend of Korra, Studio Mir, with showrunner Lauren Hissrich and Beau DeMayo attached to write.
The Witcher season 2 is expected in 2021. Season 1 is available on Netflix.
Source: IGN