'The Witcher: Blood Origin' Prequel Series Rounds Out Its Cast As Filming Begins

The Witcher: Blood Origin, Netflix's prequel to the popular The Witcher starring Henry Cavill, has announced the rest of its cast. We already knew that Michelle Yeoh, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Laurence O'Fuarain were on board for the six-episode limited series. Today's news brings a slew of new names to add to the cast as filming begins in the U.K.

Deadline is reporting that several other actors will clash swords in the prequel, which takes place before the "conjunction of the spheres" where the world of humans, elves and monsters merged into one.

In addition to the aforementioned actors, Lenny Henry (Broadchurch, The Lord of the Rings) has joined the fantasy series. Other newcomers include Mirren Mack (The Nest, Sex Education), Nathaniel Curtis (It's a Sin), and Dylan Moran (Uncle).

While we know these actors are part of the production, we know little else about who they're playing in the prequel. We do, however, know their names — Henry will play "Balor," Mack plays "Merwyn," Curtis is "Brían," and Moran, who arguably wins for most interesting character name, plays "Uthrok One-Nut."

Other than their names, however, we're largely in the dark. Blood Origin promises to share the story of how the first Witcher was created, however, so chances are very good some of them will be involved in that plotline in some way.

Deadline also shared news on the creative team behind the camera.  Sarah O'Gorman (Cursed) will direct three episodes — the first, fourth and sixth. Vicky Jewson (Close) will direct the other three. The two directors will join executive producer and showrunner Declan de Barra in bringing the limited series to the small screen.

While the show is currently in production, there's no news yet on when The Witcher: Blood Origin will make its way to Netflix.

The prequel is only one Witcher-based project Netflix has in the works, however. After the success the streaming platform had with the first season of The Witcher, they quickly greenlit a second season, which is set to premiere on December 17, 2021.

Netflix also has an anime feature, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, coming out on August 23. That story follows another Witcher named Vesemir, who, according to the official synopsis, "slays monsters for coin and glory, but when a new menace rises, he must face the demons of his past."

If that wasn't enough Witcher action for the streaming service, Netflix also took part in WitcherCon, a whole day devoted to promoting their Witcher properties. With Nightmare of the Wolf and Blood Origin moving forward, one can't help but wonder whether Netflix will expand their Witcher franchise even further. They'll likely want to see how these two new projects perform. But if they do well, my guess is we'll see Netflix greenlight more Witcher content for us to enjoy.