Netflix’s desire to turn The Witcher into one of the platform’s marquee properties continues at pace, with animated prequel Nightmare of the Wolf set to premiere one week from today, while Henry Cavill’s second outing as Geralt of Rivia is in with a real shot of breaking all sorts of viewership records when it lands on December 17th.
Shooting is also underway on spinoff Blood Origin, another prequel set over a thousand years before the main series that tracks the origin of the Witchers themselves. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is involved as an executive producer with Declan de Barra set as showrunner. Three of the main cast members had already been announced, but now a raft of names have joined Sophia Brown’s Éile, Laurence O’Fuarain’s Fjall, and Michelle Yeoh’s Scían.
In fact, ten additions have been made to the ensemble, and their characters have also been revealed. Mirren Mack’s Merwyn, Lenny Henry’s Balor, Jacob Collins’ Eredin, Lizzie Annis’ Zacaré, Huw Novelli’s Callan, Francesca Mills’ Meldof, Amy Murray’s Fenrik, Nathaniel Curtis’ Brían, Zack Wyatt’s Syndril and Dylan Moran’s Uthrok One-Note are now all confirmed for The Witcher: Blood Origin, and several of those names will be familiar to fans.
On top of that, Cursed and The Last Kingdom alum Sarah O’Gorman has been tapped to direct three episodes including the premiere, while Vicky Jewson will helm the other three. It’s a big day for The Witcher: Blood Origin, and now that the majority of the main players have been confirmed, it’s all systems go for the latest expansion for Netflix’s wildly popular fantasy universe. No premiere date has been locked in as of yet, but 2022 is virtually a guarantee.