Having become the most popular TV show in the world when it first arrived on Netflix in December of last year, you can understand why the streaming giant would be keen to capitalize on the massive success of The Witcher. However, with the second run of episodes still waiting on the all-clear to resume shooting following the Coronavirus pandemic, a spinoff has already been announced.
Most shows tend to head down the prequel or spinoff route when the creative well has started to run dry and fans are starting to lose interest, so it seems a little strange that Netflix would green-light The Witcher: Blood Origin when we’ve only seen eight episodes from the main timeline, and The Witcher’s stock is still at an all-time high.
That being said, they seem keen to establish themselves as the new go-to place for the fantasy genre after both Warrior Nun and Cursed turned out to be massive hits, with the second season of The Umbrella Academy poised to follow suit when it lands at the end of this week, but it remains to be seen if Blood Origins will capture the imagination and spawn anywhere near the amount of memes that Geralt of Rivia’s adventures did.
Almost as soon as the news was made official, fans headed online to voice their opinions about The Witcher: Blood Origin and surprisingly, they seemed to be split down the middle. See for yourself below:
https://twitter.com/sforys92/status/1287827169851387904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287827169851387904%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fgaming%2Fnews%2Fthe-witcher-fans-divided-about-blood-origin-netflix%2F
https://twitter.com/Natchos_panda/status/1287827551004565511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287829400315146240%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fgaming%2Fnews%2Fthe-witcher-fans-divided-about-blood-origin-netflix%2F
Love the @NXOnNetflix announcement of The Witcher: Blood Origins. I've never read the books so I'm excited to see how The Witcher universe came to be!
— Mike Willis (@thestandingmike) July 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/valonoise/status/1287838093362569218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287838093362569218%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fgaming%2Fnews%2Fthe-witcher-fans-divided-about-blood-origin-netflix%2F
Is having a Witcher show without Geralt really a Witcher show?
— Granttron (@Granttron) July 27, 2020
Netflix has ordered a limited Witcher prequel series that won't have the Witcher in it. https://t.co/nVHm3Bn3nq
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) July 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/TheDentonOne/status/1287819388498972672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287819388498972672%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fgaming%2Fnews%2Fthe-witcher-fans-divided-about-blood-origin-netflix%2F
Presumably, the plan is for Blood Origin to plug the gap between seasons of The Witcher should it find a similar level of success, and while Netflix might be happy to keep returning to the world over and over again, it remains to be seen if fans will remain invested in having a constant supply of Witcher-related content on a regular basis over the long term.
