Witcher: Blood Origin Creator Producing Even More Spin-Offs?
The Witcher: Blood Origin co-creator Declan De Barra hints that more spinoffs of The Witcher are on the way.
The new Netflix miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin isn’t doing too well, and yet co-creator Declan De Barra is hinting he’s got more on the way from the world started in the stories of Andrzej Sapkowski. Speaking about the prequel miniseries that debuted Christmas Day, De Barra made comments about the source material giving him the opportunity to expand the narrative even more.
De Barra told RadioTimes The Witcher: Blood Origin came about from the need of figuring out the story of the main series’ upcoming third season. “We couldn’t answer it without knowing what happened before the Conjunction of the Spheres,” De Barra said. “We needed to know what the elves wanted.”
That’s when the writer/producer dropped the hint about more projects:
“Sapkowski is the king of the closed ended story, the more we read of his books, the broader the tapestry of the world. So that’s the advantage of doing all these – they might be standalone pieces, but they paint another side to this world and expand it outward. That’s the fun part.”
Declan de Barra speaking to RadioTimes
Considering the rocky time the franchise has been having, it’s surprising to hear The Witcher: Blood Origin‘s co-creator talking about more spinoffs coming. The miniseries has proven to be the worst received chapter in Netflix’s Witcher franchise. Not only are both critics and fans hammering it with complaints, but it’s doing a relatively poor job in streaming numbers.
On the Friday after its release, The Witcher: Blood Origin is number five on Netflix’s most-watched TV series. Three of the four series currently beating it — Wednesday, The Recruit, and Emily in Paris — had their premieres before Blood Origin; in the case of Wednesday, it premiered over a month before the Witcher spinoff. The fourth series trouncing Blood Origin is Treason which — let’s just say it — is a Charlie Cox-led TV show that has nothing to do with Daredevil.
Add to all of this that the cast of The Witcher: Blood Origin is led by Michelle Yeoh who has never been more popular, and by all accounts even if it was just a “sort of okay” show, Blood Origin should be dominating Netflix right now.
Further chipping away at the franchise’s reputation is the announcement of Henry Cavill leaving the now iconic role of Geralt of Rivia and being replaced with Liam Hemsworth. Rumors began flying immediately about the reasons; including reports of Cavill being unhappy with the writers deviating from the source material and other reports of the actor showing toxic behavior on set.
As RadioTimes notes, one of the most widely reported spinoff possibilities in the last few months is a show focusing on a group of characters called The Rats. Reportedly making their debut in the upcoming third season of The Witcher, The Rats are a gang of young criminals operating in the Nilfgaardian province of Geso.
