Stars of The Witcher: Blood Origin on Netflix's new prequel

Set 1,200 years before the events of the original two series – released in 2019 and 2021 respectively and based on the books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and video game of the same name – The Witcher: Blood Origin takes us back to where it all began. To the elven ‘golden era’, to be precise, before the arrival of humans and monsters.

But it quickly becomes clear that the world as they know it is under threat, and seven misfits and outcasts – mostly strangers until this point – are called to action.

Once again, there are big names in the mix, amongst them Lenny Henry, Minnie Driver and Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh. And as with the first two series, original author Sapkowski was involved as a consultant while Declan De Barra leads the creative team as creator and writer.

But you don’t have to be a long-time fan to hop on board now. As Blood Origin leaps so far back in time, viewers can expect a whole new set of characters at the fore.

Huw Novelli (who plays Callan, aka Brother Death) recalls playing The Witcher game as a child, after his brother gave it to him for Christmas. “But I had no idea of The Witcher world that surrounds it. It’s absolutely huge, with the book and the series,” says the Welsh actor.

Just as he came to Blood Origin with little knowledge of the wider ‘Witcher world’ however, the cast all agree the same applies for audiences.

Zach Wyatt (who portrays Syndril) says: “It’s got a completely new set of characters that exist within the world that hopefully a lot of people are already interested in, whether it’s from the books, the series, the games.

"But perhaps Blood Origin will bring a new clientele, a new flavour of intrigue to a world that already exists… It feels very fresh and new.”

For pre-existing fans, Novelli agrees a prequel “gives you answers – to things that if you’ve read the books or whatever, you kind of have thought about. And we give a version of an answer to some of those questions, for sure.”

And there are, of course, battle scenes.

Northampton-born Sophia Brown, who plays Eile, says: “We started (training at) a boot camp a couple of months before (starting filming) in Iceland.

“That period was us learning fight choreography by the stunt co-ordinator and choreographer Adam Horton, and just to get our stamina up, to make sure we knew the fights so that we were safe when we were actually filming the scenes.

“And learning different fight techniques, so we could differentiate our fighting style as characters. There was a lot to take on, but it really helped to build our characters. It was invaluable to me.”

Laurence O’Fuarain (Fjall Stoneheart), agrees that the intensive training was pivotal.

Meanwhile, Staffordshire-born Francesca Mills (Meldof), whose previous TV credits include Worzel Gummidge and Harlots, says she “fell in love with the characters” after seeing the scripts.

“I fell in love with the depth and heart and humour, and the arcs of all of them. I feel like they all go on a real journey, and I just wanted to jump in and get involved on that journey.”

One of the things that appealed to Lizzie Annis (Zacare) was the series’ diversity.

“As an actor with a disability, I have always been really drawn to the [fantasy] genre because I think it’s a world in which anything and anyone is possible, and a world in which difference and the power in those differences is celebrated,” says Annis, who has cerebral palsy.

“For my younger self – I think for my sort of little girl self as well – I really wanted to bring that kind of representation to the world of fantasy and explore those realms of possibility as well.”

The Witcher: Blood Origin is available on Netflix now.