The Witcher franchise is expanding with The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel series set many years before Geralt of Rivia that will bring a new, raw Witcher to life. The series stars Sophia Brown, Michelle Yeoh, Laurence O’Fuarain, Lenny Henry, and Mirren Mack, and brings a huge wave of representation to the fantasy landscape. This is something that Brown, who plays Elie, a warrior of the Queen’s guard who leaves to become a traveling musician, has been delighted to be part of. She told SFX:

The Witcher: Blood Origin is set 1,200 years before the events of The Witcher television series, Blood Origin will depict the creation of the first Witcher, as well as the events leading to the “Conjunction of the Spheres”. It will also explore the ancient Elven civilization before its demise. The flagship Witcher series about to go through some big changes, with Henry Cavill bowing out after season 3 and Liam Hemsworth coming in to take over, The Witcher: Blood Origin’s success could well decide how much further the franchise expands in the future.

“I feel honored to be playing Elie and to be a part of this Witcher universe. To be able to be a face in fantasy that I have not necessarily seen too much, if at all… I feel proud. I feel excited that my nieces and nephews can see it and watch it, and that will be normal for them growing up. That’s exciting. It’s been fulfilling emotionally, personally and spiritually to be representation for, I hope, many more people.”

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Why Is There So Much Backlash Against Black Representation In Fantasy Series?

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The Witcher: Blood Origins has a strong and diverse cast, with lead characters being portrayed by characters of all colors and nationalities. However, recently this kind of representation in fantasy shows has developed a tendency to bring out a large number of negative reviews, or racist and derogatory comments in their thousands on social media platforms?

Most recently, Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, HBO’s The House of The Dragon, and Netflix’s The Sandman have all been the subject of constant discussion on Twitter about its inclusive casting. In many cases, the complaints are from long-term fans of the source material, who believe that these stories should be adapted without any kind of changes to the characters appearance.

While the works of Tolkien were written in a time when it was normal for leading fictional characters to be white, more modern books like The Witcher originated in Poland where the tiniest fraction of the population are non-white. However, when these books are being adapted by Hollywood, there is a need to meet with today’s inclusive standards, and that usually means changes to many characters that don’t always meet approval from everyone.

It is clear that The Witcher: Blood Origin will be continuing to expand The Witcher in new ways, but the real question now is whether fans will be invested in a whole new Witcher story. Netflix will certainly be hoping so, as the franchise is one of the streamer’s biggest IPs that they will hope to see more spin-offs from in the coming years.