This year’s TUDUM festival has come and gone, with Netflix revealing release dates, cast members and more for The Witcher Season 3 and its backstory, The Witcher: Origin of Blood.
Origin of blood will throw its source material out the window and take things back to the very beginning, which takes place 1,200 years before the start of the fantasy series (and the original books). In an interview with Entertainment WeeklyNetflix CEO Kelly Lugenbeil said the series was inspired by “a few lines in the books” after co-creators Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hisrich ran into a “plot hole” while crafting the story for The Witcher season two.
De Barra told EW, “We were trying to understand what the world was like for the elves right before the Confluence of the Realms. It’s very unclear in the books what happened. I got out a whiteboard and sketched out this plan of what I thought: what the elves wanted in this world and what society was like before colonization. This thing remained.
The prequel will feature an elite warrior named Ale and her decision to leave her clan to pursue her dream of becoming a musician – but that dream is cut short when the world is threatened by a new order and Ale begins a battle for revenge. This storyline will provide insight into how the first prototype witch came to be and the life-changing event that led to “the worlds of monsters, humans, and elves becoming one.”
Here’s everything you need to know when The Witcher: Origin of Blood and The Witcher Season 3 will premiere on Netflix, as will their respective casts.
The Witcher: Origin of Blood Release date
All four episodes of The Witcher: Origin of Blood will premiere December 25th on Netflix.
The Witcher Season 3 Release Date
Netflix is tight-lipped about the exact release date The witch Sreason 3, but the streamer teases that it will arrive in the summer of 2023.
Who is in the role of The Witcher: Bloodline?
If you only look The Witcher for Henry Cavill’s Dreamboat, unfortunately, The Witcher: Origin of Blood it might not be for you, because this new series is introducing its own star-studded cast.
Netflix announced that Mini Driver will join the prequel series as a narrator who is a seanchai, described as a “shifting collector of old lore with the abilities to travel between time and worlds.”
The driver commented on his role by saying: “Where The Witcher is a whole world and you need help to understand it. So I play a key role in helping people understand where this origin story comes from.”
Previously announced cast members include:
- Sophia Brown as Ale
- Laurence O’Fuarain as Fyal
- Michelle Yeoh as Scian
- Mirren Mack as Merwin
- Lenny Henry as Balor
- Jacob Collins Levy as Eredin
- Lizzie Annis as Zacare
- Huw Novelli as Callan “Brother Death”
- Francesca Mills as Meldoff
- Amy Murray as Fenric
- Nathaniel Curtis as Brian
- Zach Wyatt as Cindril
- Dylan Moran as Uthrok One-Nut
Who is in the cast of The Witcher Season 3?
The Witcher Season 3 will see the return of Henry Cavill as Geralt, Freya Allen as Ciri and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, as well as four new characters that Netflix announced back in April: Robbie Amell as Gallatin, Menger Jan as Milva, Hugh Skinner as Radovid and Kristel Elwin as Mistle.
Netflix has confirmed the returning cast:
- Joey Batey as Jaskier
- MyAnna Buring as Tissaia de Vries
- Tom Canton as Philavandrel
- Jeremy Crawford as Jarpen Sigrin
- Eamon Farren as Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach aka The Black Knight
- Mahesh Jadoo as Vilgefortz of Rogueveen
- Terence Maynard as Artorius Viggo
- Lars Mikkelsen as Stregobor
- Mimî M Khayisa as Fringilla Vigo
- Royce Pearson as Ystred
- Wilson Mbomio as Dara
- Anna Shaffer as Tris Merigold
- Terika Wilson-Read as Sabrina Glevisig
- Cassie Clare as Philippa Ailhart
- Messiah Simson as Francesca Findabeyre
- Graham McTavish as Sigismund Dijkstra
- Bart Edwards as Danny
- Simon Callow as Codringer
- Liz Carr as Fan
- Ed Burch as Vizimir
- Kaine Zajaz as Gage