Last weekend brought, in addition to the first full-length trailer for HBO’s The Last of Us, the two-minute trailer for Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Michelle Yeoh as Scian, Sophia Brown as Eile, and Laurence O’Fuarain as Fjall are the leads, but, rather surprisingly, Joey Batey reprises his role as Marigold in the new spin-off.
At the moment, its return doesn’t make much sense, as the plot of the series is supposed to take us more than 1,200 years before the events of the books (or the series), before the conjunction of the spheres, even, to the time when elves ruled the world and monsters roamed other dimensions.
But perhaps it has something to do with the giant monoliths which seem to be causing these rifts between worlds, and have appeared in the second season of the main Witcher series.
Or, at the very least, it could have something to do with the character Seanchai (Minnie Driver), whom Netflix describes as a collector of old tales that can travel through worlds and time.
In addition to a plot that’s sure to spawn plenty of paradoxes that will already have true fans and fangirls tearing their hair out (if there’s any left after season two), Blood Origin will follow a trio of unlikely heroes who assemble their renegade team and plan to take on the “unstoppable empire” together.
I would be lying if I claimed to be curious about this prequel, because the trailer managed to elicit just a few disbelieving chuckles from me instead of anticipation.
And I adore Michelle Yeoh! But can Netflix finally change the costume designers so at least the main characters don’t look like they put their costume together five minutes before the larp in a poorly stocked chop shop?
What’s with the oh-magical-mysterious obelisk looking like a cheap cardboard backdrop at first glance? What about the terrible CGI?
If you’ve been worried about The Conjuring because of the news of Henry Cavill”s demise, who will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth after season three, the trailer for Blood Origin probably won’t raise your hopes much. But at least we can watch the world burn together!
The four-episode miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin will be released on Netflix on December 25, 2022, and the third season of The Witcher should premiere there in the summer of 2023.
