Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin arrived on December 25, 2022, a four-episode miniseries meant to stretch the franchise back more than a thousand years before Geralt’s monster hunts. Created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, it is loosely adapted from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher books and serves as a prequel. It does not work.
Trailer, via Netflix.
A Prequel Set 1,200 Years Early
The premise is a blood quest. Seven outcasts in the elven world unite against an unstoppable power, set 1,200 years before The Witcher. The story depicts the creation of the first Witcher and the events leading to the Conjunction of the Spheres. It also explores the ancient Elven civilization before its fall.
Jaskier and the Seanchai
The framing device is Jaskier, Geralt’s bard ally. A mysterious elf called the Seanchai saves him from a war and has him write down the legend of the seven warriors who stood against Xin’trea’s forces after a coup d’état. That is the whole engine, and it never gathers speed.
Sophia Brown Leads a Long Cast
Sophia Brown plays Éile, also called The Lark. Laurence O’Fuarain is Fjall. Mirren Mack is Merwyn, Lenny Henry is Chief Sage Balor, and Jacob Collins-Levy is Eredin. Michelle Yeoh plays Scían; Minnie Driver is the Unnamed Seanchaí. The list is long and the four episodes are few.
More than a thousand years before the world of The Witcher, seven outcasts in the elven world unite in a blood quest against an unstoppable power.
That is the synopsis, and it is also the problem. Seven leads, four hours, one quest.
Seven Warriors, Four Episodes
Four episodes cannot carry seven warriors plus a coup, a civilization, and the birth of the first Witcher. Blood Origin spreads itself thin and never recovers.
Two Shows, One Comparison
| Detail | The Witcher | The Witcher: Blood Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Geralt’s era | 1,200 years earlier |
| Episodes | — | 4 |
| Premiere | — | December 25, 2022 |
| Lead | Geralt of Rivia | Seven outcasts |
| Framing | — | Jaskier and the Seanchai |
Action Sequences Earn the Only Praise
The series received largely negative reviews from critics. The action sequences did receive some praise. That split is telling. Sword work can be staged in isolation; a story cannot.
The Score
The published critical score is 4.5/10, with Metacritic at 45/100. That is the right number. Blood Origin has a cast worth watching and a mythology worth mining, and it spends both on a plot that never earns its own scale. The action is the only part that holds. Everything around it — the coup, the Conjunction, the first Witcher — is told rather than felt.
4.5 of 10.
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