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RUMOUR: ‘The Witcher: Blood Origins’ Undergoing Significant Overhaul

Reshoots are a common thing for big-budget projects so it isn’t a surprise that the upcoming prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, is undergoing a few. What is more surprising...

Michael Lozina
August 12, 2022

Reshoots are a common thing for big-budget projects so it isn’t a surprise that the upcoming prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, is undergoing a few. What is more surprising is that the series is rumoured to have cut down the episodes from six to four.

Witcher fan site, Redanian Intelligence, reported rumours that while all the footage for the six episodes had already been shot, Netflix had decided to cut it to just four. Their evidence? An alleged insider source but some stauncher evidence is the adjusted writing credits for the episodes.

Looking at the writing credits, you will find that each episode is written by:

Episode 1: Declan de Barra
Episode 2: Alex Meenehan/Aaron Stewart-Ahn
Episode 3: Tania Lotia/Kiersten Van Horne
Episode 4: Declan de Barra/Tasha Huo

To add some credibility to these claims was a tweet from Declan de Barra in 2020. He expressed enthusiasm and gratitude for working on the finale with Tasha Huo. So we know for sure that episode was a collaborative effort for the writers.

Sent off a draft of the finale for The Witcher - Blood Origin today, co written with demon writer @Tasha3point0 That felt really fucking great. This room has been a dream.
— Declan de Barra (@declandebarra) December 8, 2020

Tinfoil hat time.

It has been observed in the past that writing credits tend to be combined when episodes like this have been edited together (it’s not a blanket rule however). You can see that episode three and four have two writers each. The premiere and the finale have no additional writing credits that suggests that episode three and four are an amalgamation of four episodes.

Redanian Intelligence’s source added that there would also be more Jaskier (Joey Batey) than originally planned. It was revealed in October 2021 that Jaskier would appear as part of the framing device of the show. He would tell the story of Blood Origin and then be interrupted by an elf who claims to know the true events.

How Jaskier’s expanded role will fit into the show is still anybody’s guess, but it would suggest that even if his role has been expanded, he still won’t be in it much.

The reason for these edits? As reported, they are being made to bring the prequel closer to the main Witcher series as well as to add polish and cut “weak” material.

The Witcher: Blood Origins will tell the tale of the Conjuction of the Spheres some 1200 years before the events of the main series. This event is what led to the introduction of dwarves, humans, and monsters into the dimension of the elves.

The cast includes Éile (Sophia Brown), a warrior who abandons her clan and role to wander the world as a singer; Scian (Michelle Yeoh), an elf in search of a sacred sword; and Fjall (Laurence O’Fuarain), a warrior who joins Éile.

The synopsis is as follows:

“Every story has a beginning. Witness the untold history of the Continent with The Witcher: Blood Origin, a new prequel series set in an elven world 1200 years before the events of The Witcher. Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time - exploring the creation of the first prototype Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal “Conjunction of the Spheres,” when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.”