When you place Michelle Yeoh at the center of a project, she’s bound to not only elevate it, but make it look about 10,000 times cooler. In the first teaser for Netflix’s The Witcher prequel series, Blood Origin, she does this while yielding a sword and giving a deadly cold stare.
The official description of Blood Origin reads: “Set in an elven world 1200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin tells a story lost to time—one of seven outcasts who unite against an unstoppable power that took everything from them. Their blood quest giving rise to a prototype Witcher in a conflict that brings about the ‘conjunction of the spheres,’ when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one.”
Yeoh leads the prequel series as Scían, who’s the last of her tribe of sword-elves. As the term sword-elf implies, they are well-versed in the artistry of sword-fighting and devote their lives to the blade. When given the opportunity to seize a sacred sword that was ruthlessly stolen from her people, she goes to great lengths to retrieve it.
Declan de Barra serves as Blood Origin’s creator, showrunner, and executive producer with Sarah O’Gorman and Vicky Jewson directing the four-part series. Lauren Hissrich, Matt O’Toole, Tomek Baginski, Jarek Sawko, Jason Brown and Sean Daniel are also executive producing.
Blood Origin’s full cast features Minnie Driver as Seanchaí, Laurence O’Fuarain as Fjall, Sophia Brown as Éile, Mirren Mack as Merwyn, Lenny Henry as Balor, Jacob Collins-Levy as Eredin, Lizzie Annis as Zacaré, Huw Novelli as Callan or “Brother Death,” Francesca Mills as Meldof, Amy Murray as Fenrik, Nathaniel Curtis as Brían, Zach Wyatt as Syndril, Dylan Moran as Uthrok One-Nut, and Joey Batey as Jaskier.
The Witcher: Blood Origin premieres on Netflix on December 25.