Blood Origin Prequel Cleverly Avoids The Witcher's Biggest Fail
Andrzej Sapkowski's fans have always had a love-hate relationship with Netflix's The Witcher series, based on the author's books.
Their attitude has ranged from adoration to utter disappointment. No wonder. While the first season won the hearts and minds of the Witcher fandom for its faithfulness to the books, season 2 came as a shock to many of them.
The reason for such a sudden change of heart was the showrunners' frivolous relationship with the source material.
The fans of the Polish author and the connoisseurs of The Witcher can't forgive the writers for deviating from the books and creating their own arcs for the main characters. For those who only watched the show, this was not a problem – for them, the main ingredient of the series' success was Henry Cavill, universally recognized as the etalon Geralt of Rivia.
But the fact that the books and the show almost went their separate ways was too much even for him to bear, which, according to some sources, became one of the main reasons for him to say goodbye to the series.
It looks like a new addition to The Witcher universe – The Witcher: Blood Origin – will not have this problem. The prequel, which is the second spin-off of the franchise, is not based on any specific books, but is written as if from scratch.
That means there's nothing to compare it to. If the writing team can create a plot that is both exciting and consistent with franchise lore, it's a done deal.
However, some fans are still wary. One of the biggest concerns about Blood Origins is that the show will ignore the fact that the elves did the same thing to the dwarves and other races that the humans did to them, according to one Reddit commenter. Some doubted that The Witcher show without a witcher sounds just right, and another big concern was... Netflix again! Some fans are upset that The Witcher universe is getting a generic fantasy rip-off treatment.
The Witcher: Blood Origin prequel will tell the story of a world before the Conjunction of the Spheres. It will follow the story of the ancient elven civilization as it flourished, showing how the very first witcher was born, and of course, will feature many well-known original characters. The events will take place more than a thousand years before Geralt was born.
"I just was fascinated with the idea of what a pre-colonized world would look like for the elves," showrunner Declan de Barra told Entertainment Weekly. She said she was curious to know what this ancient world might have looked like and to explore its society and the intentions of the elves.
The Witcher: Blood Origin will be released on December 25, 2022. The first spinoff of the series The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf debuted in 2021. It introduces us to the world where young Vesemir heroically killed ugly monsters for coin and glory.