Later this year Netflix users will be treated to The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel from the streaming service’s current series based on The Witcher books. It is four episodes, takes place thousands of years before Geralt, and came to be in a bit of an unusual way.
In a new piece published by Entertainment Weekly today, project creator Declan de Barra channeled David Lynch and says all of what is coming appeared to him at once. He has worked on the original show as a writer and executive producer, and, after the second season ended, he got a call from Netflix asking him about ideas for more. He said he could get it done, and then, went to a public place and made use of something people often throw away in order to flesh out a piece which may stand the test of time.
“I was like, ‘f*** yeah!’ and then literally sat in a café and scribbled it down on a napkin.”
Later in the report de Barra says what audiences will see surprisingly has not changed much since the original napkin he grabbed. He says ideas never really come this easily to him, and, while the story is set in a franchise, they apparently had creative freedom. Or so says star Sophia Brown — who plays a former member of the elven Queens-guard — later on in the article after de Barra.
“I’m excited to be showing the fans something they don’t know. We can create whatever we want to create. So we don’t have to fit any sort of mold. We just get to play.”
The Witcher: Blood Origin will drop on Christmas Day in its entirety. The next part of the initial show will premiere next summer and Netflix wants to be in business with the franchise for a while. In addition to the premiere for the next season of the show, they have also announced another episodic offshoot for families and kids, an animated feature and the first two seasons have 16 episodes combined.