I’m a little worried about Netflix’s upcoming Witcher spinoff show Blood Origin,
and what it could mean for the future of the Witcher. Let me tell you why.
Spin-offs are sort of an inevitable part of modern media. Successful projects get franchised,
and most of the time that’s not due to the passion of any particular creatives so much as the studio
executives and their passion for ducats. But, while this profit impulse and the capitalist
dream of endless growth aren’t good things, and certainly have no inherent correlation to
artistic worth - this point in time does seem, on the face of it, to be a relatively fitting point
for the release of a Witcher spinoff project. We’re in the aftermath of a generally popular and
well-received second season, after all, one which made efforts to expand the world of the Witcher.
And yes, I know that many diehard game and book fans received season 2 less than positively, and
we’ll come back to that, but for now I’m talking more about the mainstream. Plus, as of right now,
Netflix clearly still has faith in the Witcher as a franchise. They actually advertised it a fair
bit when season 2 was coming out, which is more than can be said for some OTHER Netflix original
series. (Dis) And, by all accounts, Season 2 performed. Look, I’m not a data analyst,
and only Netflix truly knows what Netflix counts as a well-performing series, but looking at
the numbers we do have it seems clear that a lot of people watched this second season.
But, and here’s where I’ll enter more speculative territory, I think a good deal
of the second season’s success and the show’s continuing popularity can be attributed to its
main cast - Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan and Joey Batey, who play, respectively,
Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and Jaskier. Looking at reviews and responses from critics and fans alike,
these actors and their performances are regularly cited as the highlight of the show - even from
viewers who, on the whole, might not love Netflix Witcher. Broadly then, these people, these actors
seem to be key to the show’s popularity - their faces are what cover the show’s posters.
This isn’t a property like Star Trek, where name recognition plus the promise of new planets,
new aliens, and new ships are all it takes to get the viewership excited enough to support
a brand new series with a brand new cast. And, sure, that popularity, that fertility of ground
for further spin-offs exists because Star Trek has decades more history in the public consciousness
than the Witcher does, even counting the books and games. But that’s sort of my
point - if the Next Generation had aired mere months after season 2 of the original series,
I have a hard time picturing it doing as well as it did, attaining the fanbase it did, and
building the franchise’s future in the way that it did. There’s a reason that the first couple of
projects which spun off from the original series - the first few movies and the animated series - all
featured the original crew front and centre. Because at this point a mass audience wasn’t
watching Star Trek for its world and for its vision of humanity’s future - no, most of its
audience was watching it for William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I’m not sure why I picked Star Trek
for this analogy, especially given that my channel analytics suggest the reference might fall flat,
but I hope most of you can appreciate the general principle of what I’m trying to say.
And, sure, our current era of media is one in which franchises are built on a far accelerated
timescale, but even so - 2 seasons, 16 episodes? Branching outwards this laterally so soon feels
like jumping the gun, especially since it looks like franchise’s success so far seems
to be primarily due to these main actors. Let’s not forget that, in the grand scheme of things,
the Witcher is still a relatively niche IP, and - rightly or wrongly - it seems a great many of this
IP’s pre-existing fans have jumped ship due to perceived inaccuracies and flaws in the adaptation
process. I’d wager this fan-haemorrhaging will only intensify with Blood Origin - given that
these stories will have even less to do with Sapkowski’s original stories, and more to do
with the much reviled Netflix writer’s room. And remember - this series is to be set in the distant
past of the Witcher world, but we already know that Netflix Witcher has a different timeline
of events to Sapkowski’s lore. To a lot of people, that’s gonna feel like Netflix is doubling down on
unpopular, and possibly unnecessary, changes. So I’m expecting the season 2 backlash, but
worse - since there’s no Henry Cavill lead role to dilute this negativity. And, as suggested above,
the lack of recognisable faces such as Cavill’s may also mean that fewer of the new fans,
the Netflix fans, bother watching this show - and therefore this more uneven ratio of book and game
fans, who tend to be unhappier about changes, to less prejudiced ones, won’t help things out.
Of course, that last bit’s not guaranteed - it may well be that everyone who tuned into season 2,
even the more casual viewers, maintains enough enthusiasm and investment in the Witcher to check
out a spinoff, even one like this, so devoid of familiar faces. But - and I say this as someone
who enjoyed both seasons of Netflix Witcher - has this world been made to feel distinct enough,
engaging enough, exciting enough, to get causal fans onboard with what’s being marketed as,
essentially, an origin story for this setting? Honestly, I’m doubtful. Look,
I wanna be very clear - I’m not trying to question the quality of Blood Origin. What I
am questioning is the decision to make it NOW. Given the pressure Netflix seems to be putting on
the Witcher in order to keep itself going, banking on the success of a,
let’s be honest, semi-random spinoff too feels like overextension, and if this overextension
contributes to a premature end to the main series that would be a really big shame.
To be clear I hope it succeeds, I’ll be watching it, and I’m not even trying to criticise the
project itself. How even could I, before seeing it - the idea itself isn’t inherently bad.
If anything, I’m optimistic about the quality of this project - after all, it’s helmed by Declan
De Barra, who wrote some of the Witcher’s best episodes so far, like the hedgehog wedding one,
and the season 2 premiere. But from a business standpoint, from a ‘Netflix please don’t
prematurely cancel this franchise standpoint’? I’m concerned about this move. And that concern isn’t
helped by the fact that it’s been, what, like 5 months since that first trailer, and there’s
been utter radio silence since then. Netflix has always been pretty bad about promoting new shows,
and you’d have thought this might be a different story, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and
see. In conclusion, then, I’m cautiously optimistic about The Witcher: Blood Origin,
and I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll perform well. But is this the right time for a spin-off
so separate from the main show? I don’t know for sure, but I just worry that given Netflix’s
stringent economics of renewal, the knock on effects of this series underperforming might
be a price we’re not willing to pay. But that’s it for today, thanks to all
my Patrons onscreen now, especially Kevin Douglas, Ian Douglas, and Thrawn7.