WHAT TO WATCH: All-new prequel explores the Witcher’s historic beginnings

There was an extra Christmas treat in store for fans of popular fantasy saga The Witcher, as December 25 saw a new four-part prequel arrive on Netflix.

Set 1,200 years before the events of the original two series – released in 2019 and 2021 respectively and based on the books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and video game of the same name – The Witcher: Blood Origin takes us back to where it all began. To the elven ‘golden era’, to be precise, before the arrival of humans and monsters.

But it quickly becomes clear that the world as they know it is under threat, and seven misfits and outcasts – mostly strangers until this point – are called to action.

Once again, there are big names in the mix, amongst them Lenny Henry, Minnie Driver and Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh. And as with the first two series, original author Sapkowski was involved as a consultant while Declan De Barra leads the creative team as creator and writer.

But you don’t have to be a long-time fan to hop on board now. As Blood Origin leaps so far back in time, viewers can expect a whole new set of characters at the fore.

While plot spoilers are strictly under wraps, we can tell you to expect complex characters, battle action aplenty and stunning settings (Blood Origin was partly filmed on location in Iceland).

We caught up with six of the chosen seven – Sophia Brown (Eile), Laurence O’Fuarain (Fjall Stoneheart), Zach Wyatt (Syndril), Huw Novelli (Callan, aka Brother Death), Francesca Mills (Meldof) and Lizzie Annis who plays Zacare (Yeoh makes up the seventh, Scian) – to find out more…

On training for battle scenes

“We started a boot camp a couple of months before [starting filming] in Iceland,” says Northampton-born Brown. “That period was us learning fight choreography by the stunt co-ordinator and choreographer Adam Horton, and just to get our stamina up, to make sure we knew the fights so that we were safe when we were actually filming the scenes.

“And learning different fight techniques, so we could differentiate our fighting style as characters. There was a lot to take on, but it really helped to build our characters. It was invaluable to me.”

O’Fuarain agrees “100%” that the intensive training was pivotal.

“Me and Sophia got to work together through that process, and we became a lot closer through that as well, so when we started shooting, because it’s such an immense project, we felt we had each other’s backs for the duration of the show,” adds the Irish actor, who previously had roles in Game Of Thrones and Vikings.

“And with the training, because we’re warriors, it helped us become the characters.”

The scenes involved working with stunt teams too, who Brown and O’Fuarain both say were “amazing”.

O’Fuarain adds: “Some days we’d just look at each other and pinch each other and go, ‘What are we doing, this is crazy!’ Because we’d have all these people, 20 stunt people around us and they’re all swinging swords, fighting each other. And we’d just go, ‘This is just nuts!’. I mean, we’re doing this for a living, this is our job. We’re very, very lucky.”

On celebrating diversity

Annis and Wyatt say one of the things that appealed was the series’ diversity.

“As an actor with a disability, I have always been really drawn to the [fantasy] genre because I think it’s a world in which anything and anyone is possible, and a world in which difference and the power in those differences is celebrated,” says Annis, who has cerebral palsy.

“For my younger self – I think for my sort of little girl self as well – I really wanted to bring that kind of representation to the world of fantasy and explore those realms of possibility as well.”

Wyatt, who appeared in 2020 movie Blithe Spirit, echoes this view. “The world of fantasy does have its stereotypes, and I think the greatest thing about this show is the diversity and getting to see different cultures and walks of life and ethnicities really being portrayed in these human roles. I mean, we have elf ears, but it’s a human experience that we’re exploring,” Wyatt adds.

“I think Declan, as a mind behind the show, really champions life in that respect, and it not needing to conform to the constraints of what fantasy and magical TV have been like in the past.

“That was something that really drew me to being in a fantasy series – and getting to explore a character in a world so far removed from your own, being portrayed by people that you might not necessarily have seen in a series like this before.”

On the characters’ journeys

Staffordshire-born Mills, whose previous TV credits include Worzel Gummidge and Harlots, says she “fell in love with the characters” after seeing the scripts. “I fell in love with the depth and heart and humour, and the arcs of all of them. I feel like they all go on a real journey, and I just wanted to jump in and get involved on that journey.”

Annis agrees: “You are on such a huge journey of transformation with these characters from beginning to end. What’s really exciting for our little gang of seven who go on this quite epic quest, this little group of elves wouldn’t have been thrown together under any other circumstances, but it’s this one huge pressing need that unifies them. There’s something really thrilling about that.”

On the power of a prequel

Novelli recalls playing The Witcher game as a kid, after his brother gave it to him for Christmas. “But I had no idea of The Witcher world that surrounds it. It’s absolutely huge, with the book and the series,” says the Welsh actor.

Just as he came to Blood Origin with little knowledge of the wider ‘Witcher world’ however, the cast all agree the same applies for audiences.

Wyatt says: “It’s got a completely new set of characters that exist within the world that hopefully a lot of people are already interested in, whether it’s from the books, the series, the games. But perhaps Blood Origin will bring a new clientele, a new flavour of intrigue to a world that already exists… It feels very fresh and new.”

Fran adds: “Prequels are always exciting, for both sides. If you’re new to the Witcher world, you can watch it as an introduction to then series one and series two. Or you get to be a detective, as an avid Witcher fan – to see the connections and learn more about the continent, and what happened when elves were at their peak.”

For pre-existing fans, Novelli agrees a prequel “gives you answers – to things that if you’ve read the books or whatever, you kind of have thought about. And we give a version of an answer to some of those questions, for sure.”