After the successful reception of Netflix’s 2019 fantasy series The Witcher, a new prequel adaptation, The Witcher: Blood Origin, is taking fans back to the beginning. Set 1200 years prior to Geralt of Rivia’s (Henry Cavill) monster-slaying, Blood Origin takes place in an elven world, and chronicles the events that will pave the way for the “Conjunction of Spheres,” the cataclysmic collision that introduced the worlds of elves, men and monsters. The prequel will also introduce fans to the proto-Witcher, the first to exist, and how they came to be.

In addition to the reprisal of Joey Batey as Jaskier, Lenny Henry will portray the Chief Druid Balor, with Sophia Brown as Éile, Laurence O’Fuarain as Fjall, Michelle Yeoh as Scian, Minnie Driver as Seanchaí and more.

Ahead of the series’ premiere on Netflix on December 25, Batey and Henry sat down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub. In the interview, Henry, who’s contributed to a number of hit series, professes his love for fantasy, and Batey explains how he was approached to be in the prequel. They also discuss the opening sequence of Blood Origin, the show’s cast and the energy they brought to set, and singing David Bowie and Bob Marley on set between takes. Watch what they had to say in the player above, or you can read the conversation below.

COLLIDER: Lenny you’ve done The Sandman as a voice, The Rings of Power, and now you’ve done The Witcher prequel. When did you decide you wanted to just dominate Comic-Cons?

JOEY BATEY: And make all the money in the world.

LENNY HENRY: Well, listen, if I was Robert Downey Jr, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. “Someone else can do my interviews for me.”

But I love this wheelhouse. This whole fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, sci-fi area is my jam. I’ve been reading comics and graphic novels and watching TV shows like this since I was eight. So for me, nobody in my family is surprised. “Oh, Lenny’s playing an evil wizard with a big staff and a magic trick. All right. Yes.” Nobody’s surprised at this.

So it’s a joy for me to be in this incredibly detailed, beautifully production-designed, beautifully acted world.

Image via Netflix

Joey, question for you. When did you find out you were going to be playing a key component of the prequel?

BATEY: Whilst they were shooting the prequel, they came to me, and we actually shot a scene, a small little scene, which was your last day of shooting.

HENRY: Hmm.

BATEY: Everyone was kind of crawling out the door, very tired and exhausted after a very, very long shoot, and I came in going, “Hey guys, I’m going to sing you a little song.”

And then we later went on to reshoot and rewrite that whole sequence to create the opening that we see in the show now. And so, yeah, it kind of was an ongoing process that I just kind of found myself in.

HENRY: It’s really good. It’s a bravura opening sequence, I think.

BATEY: Wow. I mean-

HENRY: If they like The Witcher, they’re going to love you there and they’re going to love you teeing the whole thing off.

BATEY: I think they’re going to love every cast member. That’s the thing that’s been absolutely lodged in my heart since watching the show, was seeing everyone commit with this new energy. And I was gutted I’m not in it more. I just wanted to hang out with everyone. It looked like everyone was just having the best time, as well.

For both of you, I love learning about the behind-the-scenes of the making of a show, so what do you think might surprise fans of The Witcher to learn about what goes on behind the scenes and the making of something like this? Or even The Witcher, the main series?

HENRY: Ooh.

BATEY: Ooh.

HENRY: Well, from Blood Origin point of view, Balor and Eredin really like singing David Bowie songs in between takes. You can hear “Fashion,” “The Laughing Gnome,” “Changes.” Jacob (Collins-Levy) is very skilled at doing any Bowie voice. I was very much into Bob Marley. There’s a lot of singing going on.

BATEY: Yeah, same.

HENRY: What do you do in between?

BATEY: In between takes, it’s usually me and Henry (Cavill) or Anya (Chalotra) just kind of… We end up making the weirdest games. I think there was one game during Season 3 when it was about four o’clock in the morning where we had to think of the least insulting insults. And so I think-

HENRY: Do you have an example?

BATEY: I think I said that Henry had small hair at some point. You know what I mean? Just really dumb things.

HENRY: “Your ears are like tomatoes.”

BATEY: Exactly, yeah.

HENRY: Yeah, yeah.

BATEY: And that kind of keeps us going on those long, hard nights.

Image via Netflix

I think people don’t realize sometimes it’s not as glamorous behind the scenes when you’re working a 16-hour day.

BATEY: Yeah. Yeah.

HENRY: Yeah. Because when you’re talking to a tennis ball all day or a mark on a wall, you’ve got to figure out a way to have some fun.

BATEY: Yeah.

HENRY: Otherwise you’ll keel over.

The Witcher: Blood Origin premieres exclusively on Netflix on December 25. For more, check out Collider’s interview with creators Declan de Barra and Lauren Hissrich below: