In Netflix’s upcoming limited series The Witcher: Blood Origin, fans return to the Continent 1200 years prior to the events of the hit series The Witcher, starring Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. Based on the novels by author Andrzej Sapkowski, Blood Origin takes place during a golden era of the elves, long before their civilization falls to ruin, and will tell the tale of the multiverse’s very first prototype Witcher, as well as how the world-altering Conjunction of Spheres came to pass.

The prequel show will follow a band of seven misfit warriors with a mission to stand up against a corrupt empire. Long before Geralt, or Ciri (Freya Allan), Blood Origin introduces us to Sophia Brown as Éile, Michelle Yeoh as Scian, Laurence O’Fuarain as Fjall, Huw Novelli as Brother Death, Francesca Mills as Meldof, Nathaniel Curtis as Brían, Lizzie Annis as Zacaré, and Zach Wyatt as Syndril.
COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY
Before the four-part series premieres on December 25, Collider’s Steve Weintraub was able to speak with the celestial twins, Annis and Wyatt. During their interview, Wyatt gives a brief rundown of what fans can expect from his character, as well as the Band of Seven’s quest. They both tease the magic their characters possess, and discuss the imagination it takes to bring this type of fantasy series to the screen, as well as which of their cast members inspired them onset. You can watch the conversation in the video up above, or read along with the full transcript below.

COLLIDER: How have you actually been telling your friends and family about the show in terms of who you play and what you get to do?

ZACH WYATT: I have been talking about Syndril from the standpoint of our two characters being siblings, celestial twins, born under the same star, sharing a similar type of magic that’s very earthbound and nature related, and trying to keep things under wraps.

But I guess the main bulk of it is this group of seven anti-heroes that are from different walks of life, and different traditions, that band together for a common purpose of defeating this evil that lies in Cintra. So that’s what I’ve mainly been telling people and then saying that every now and again I get to give a spell, we get to do some magic.

LIZZIE ANNIS: Yes, we get to do some pretty fun magic. Absolutely.

Image via Netflix

I want to do a follow-up on that. It must be like you’re five years old again when you’re pretending to do magic. How fun is it for both of you when you do those scenes?

ANNIS: It’s really, really fun. And I think what I certainly discovered during the process of shooting this show is how much a sense of imagination and play is really, really necessary to this genre and to this world. Particularly, when you’re working with special effects, CGI, and a lot of what you are bringing to any given moment is maybe not materially in front of you, but it’s all alive and vivid in your imagination.

I think speaking about what we learned from working with many of the fantastic actors on this show and learning from Lenny Henry, for example, he bought a real sense of play and fun, and experimentation to the set, which I think I really fed off [of], and it really liberated me to be able to feel like I was able to reconnect with that inner child that makes up games in the playground at school. And I think it’s a really important part of what we do when we engage with the world of fantasy, which is what’s so beautiful about it.

The Witcher: Blood Origin is streaming exclusively on Netflix, beginning December 25. For more, check out our interview with Sophia Brown & Laurence O’Fuarain