The prequel miniseries was meant to have Jaskier as the narrator, but the showrunners created a new character based on a real-life tradition.
Netflix
A prequel miniseries to The Witcher, called The Witcher: Blood Origin, began streaming on Netflix yesterday. It’s only four episodes long but explores some events that are crucial to The Witcher universe. During an interview with Collider, of the series’ showrunners, Declan de Barra, explains how Minnie Driver‘s character, Seanchai, came to be:
“We had actually shot a different version of it, and then we came up with this brilliant idea. We re-shot it because we wanted to bring in this character that Minnie plays of a Seanchaí, a shape-shifting storyteller that sort of drifts between worlds and times, collecting stories like grain, putting them in a seed bank for when the Worlds need them to replant them and let these stories flourish again for when people need them to rally around. It was just such a lovely, evocative image that we had to go with that.”
The other showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, had plenty of praise for Driver’s performance, and described the actress as “dream casting” for the show:
“If you think about who is going to sound like this mysterious magical [elf], whose voice is going to pop up every now and then and just sort of remind us what the macro arc is, that’s an amazing get for us.”
Related: The Witcher: Blood Origin Star Michelle Yeoh Comments on Liam Hemsworth Replacing Henry Cavill
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Jaskier Was Originally Meant to Narrate The Witcher: Blood Origin
Netflix
Originally, the story had Jaskier from the original The Witcher series narrating the events of the prequel series, but they created a character called Seanchai specifically for the role. However, Jaskier will still appear in Blood Origin. De Barra explains the shift in narrative and gives some background information on the name Seanchai:
“It just sort of fitted so well in. When I was thinking about this idea with Seanchaí story collection, it was that moment where all the story about music, and story and words being more powerful than any army… personified in this sort of creature that’s raison d’être is to collect stories because they are so powerful. It was great. And the name Seanchaí actually comes from… It was a position in Ireland where you were a storyteller, and you went between the halls of kings, and you went to chieftains and people, and they were the most powerful people in the land and kings were f***ing terrified of them – and queens – because one bad story would destroy you as a king. And they were far more worried about that than any army. And then bringing that back to life in this world, it just all clicked. It was one of those lovely synchronous moments of story.”
The Witcher: Blood Origin takes place over a thousand years before the events of The Witcher. It will reveal how the first Witcher was made, and how the Conjunction of the Spheres happened, a cataclysm that allowed unnatural and otherworldly creatures such as ghouls and vampires to spill into the world that the elves and dwarves inhabit.
The series debuted on Netflix on December 25th, 2022 and stars Sophia Brown, Laurence O’Fuarain, Mirren Mack, Joey Batey, Michelle Yeoh, and Minnie Driver. It was created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich.
You can view the original article HERE.
