Hit series producers have long used spinoffs to keep the stories going (and keep the advertising and subscription dollars flowing). In our IP-obsessed era of pop culture universes, the desire to preserve – and ideally expand – popular TV franchises has only increased. And these days, moving forward more often than not means looking back.
This year’s biggest new series were prequels, with “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon” set long before the events of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones.” .” “Andor” is a prequel to a movie, “Rogue One”, which itself was a prequel to other “Star Wars” movies. This month, “Yellowstone” added “1923”, another prequel to last year’s “1883”.
Now on Sunday comes “The Witcher: Blood Origin,” a Netflix miniseries taking place 1200 years earlier Geralt of Rivia began slaying evil creatures and thoughtfully pushing back his trademark white mane in “The Witcher,” which premiered in 2019 and returns next summer for its third season.
Based on stories by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, the franchise is named after monster hunters, Geralt being the most famous. It takes place on a continent (easily referred to as the continent) where witches rub elbows with elves and dwarves, powerful sorceresses and power-hungry nobility.
A spin-off was probably inevitable for a title that has taken every platform by storm: The streaming adaptation of “The Witcher” followed popular game and comic book versions, and it’s become one of Netflix’s most-watched shows ever.
For “Blood Origin” creator and showrunner Declan de Barra, the initial motivation was the ability to flesh out clues or allusions in Sapkowski’s books, including introducing new characters. Most important was a desire to focus on the mainland when it was dominated by elves.
“My favorite part of the books was identifying with the elf story,” de Barra, 51, said in a video call. “You could tell they were a post-colonized species, they could hardly reproduce and they are pre-agricultural, yet they have a mythology that is referenced in the background. What happened before? What was their Rome before the fall?”
As the writer and co-executive producer of “The Witcher,” De Barra had begun to chart what he believed had happened before the Conjunction of the Spheres — the catastrophe that sent both humans and monsters from their own worlds to the mainland. could travel. So when original series creator Lauren Schmidt Hissrich asked him to draft a spin-off concept, De Barra was ready. For his story engine, he chose one of the oldest and most tested: a group of mismatched individuals must band together to save their world, in this case from raging overlords and a crazed wizard.
“I imagined a group of people who would hate each other when they showed up at a party and put them in the melting pot together,” he said. “People who are all different and have reason to have beef with each other, but have to work together.”
Since this is the “Witcher” franchise, some of them also find reasons to have sex with each other. And yes, there’s just as much shockingly modern profanity in “Blood Origin” as there is in the main show, along with the goofy irreverence that sets the franchise apart. (Last year’s special, “The Witcher: Fireplace,” is an hour-long shot of a crackling fire.)
“What’s great about Declan is he’s very energetic and has a very raw, mischievous sense of humor – and he brings that to ‘Blood Origin,'” Lenny Henry, who plays the plotting Chief Sage Balor, said in a video chat. “So you get all the elevated Shakespearean arias from some of the characters and then you get that low end.”
Balor plays a vital role in the ‘Blood Origin’ universe, setting in motion a series of events that will ripple through time and space. Among the characters most affected are Éile (Sophia Brown) and Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain), two warriors from rival clans who end up fighting on the same side as part of the main super team. (How super? The mighty Michelle Yeoh is a major part of it.)
In a way, Éile in a nutshell is “The Witcher”: a fierce fighter who both comments and directs the action with song – after all, this is the rare fantasy series that spawned a cult hit, with Season 1’s “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” This is an essential element for Irish-born de Barra, who used to lead a hard rock band and who is the co-writer of several songs for both streaming ‘Witcher’ properties.
“My favorite songs are the ones that end really short,” he said, explaining the decision to cut the prequel from the planned six to four episodes. He also makes connections between epic Celtic ballads and Éile’s tunes, including “The Black Rose” – a direct reference to the 16th century Irish song “Róisín Dubh”.
“I wanted her to write rebel songs for the people,” de Barra said. “I knew that both Irish mythology and Eastern European mythology would be referenced because Sapkowski himself does that with some of his places and people, like the Skellige Islands and things like that.
“He has a potpourri of all kinds of European mythologies and he pulls the stories and puts them together and bakes his own cake,” de Barra added. “So I felt very comfortable doing that.”
Off-screen, Brown, who is black, has been at the center of the kinds of caustic discussions about race and how it relates to source material that have taken place within other fantasy fandoms. (You may remember how the sight of Black Elves in “The Rings of Power” confused some viewers.)
“When something new comes into a space, people will always think, ‘Oh, that’s not right,'” Brown said. “I got into some trouble when the casting came out, but I’m not new to the industry and I’ve worked really hard to be here, so I didn’t know I was supposed to be there.”
Henry – who is also black and who played the harp foot Sadoc Burrows in “The Rings of Power” – chose to laugh it all off. “What you have to say to those guys is, ‘You believe an upside down where a big weird creature made of corned beef threatens children, but you don’t believe a black elf?'” he said. “It’s all like – anyone can be whatever they want to be.”
Fears over Éile’s role in the “Witcher” mythos are also related to what some fans have dismissed as drastic departures from the books and video games in the original series. These complaints have become louder online since Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt and is an outspoken fan of the Sapkowski stories, announced with little explanation that he was leaving the show after the upcoming season.
De Barra said that any adaption of the “Witcher” stories “will never be able to please everyone”, explaining that devoted fans of the books and the games will each have their own different conceptions of what the characters and world should look like. must see. .
“No two people will ever agree,” he said. “The core thing that was important to me was just telling a story that I believed in and could work on its own while honoring the books.”
The TV shows integrate and broaden Sapkowski’s vision, and this dual approach is particularly evident in “Blood Origin.” As the title suggests, we meet some familiar characters and there are plot developments that will bear fruit generations later, in the main series timeline. But de Barra warns viewers not to jump to conclusions.
For example, in one scene, a seer – well known to “Witcher” fans – says that one of Éile’s descendants will be very important in the future, but the show doesn’t specify who it will be.
“We can’t spell it, not now, but it will be pronounced later,” de Barra said. “Most people say. …” He paused. “I’ll leave it like that anyway.”
Such comments will be cryptic to those new to the “Witcher” universe, but they needn’t worry: While some plot points will be parsed endlessly on “Witcher” subreddits, “Blood Origin” stands alone. “I hope we can introduce a lot of new fans to the show and then they can stream into the marquee series and fall in love with fantasy,” said Brown.
“I saw things when I was younger that made me want to be an actor and make me want to escape and see the world in different ways,” she continued. “So I hope people can see the world differently by seeing our worlds.”