Much-travelled Waterford musician Declan De Barra is executive producing and showrunning The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to the blockbusting Netflix fantasy series.
“Set 1,200 years before the world of The Witcher, Blood Origin will tell a story lost to time – the origin of the very first Witcher, and the events that lead to the pivotal ‘conjunction of the spheres’ when the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merged to become one,” we’re told.
De Barra, who emigrated from the sunny Southeast to Australia in 1989 and formed the genre-bending Clann Zú, is understandably delighted with his new roll.
“As a lifelong fan of fantasy, I am beyond excited to tell the story The Witcher: Blood Origin,” he enthuses. “A question has been burning in my mind ever since I first read The Witcher books – what was the Elven world really like before the cataclysmic arrival of the humans?
“I've always been fascinated by the rise and fall of civilisations, how science, discovery, and culture flourish right before that fall. How vast swathes of knowledge are lost forever in such a short time, often compounded by colonisation and a rewriting of history. Leaving only fragments of a civilisation’s true story behind.”
The writer of those books, Andrzej Sapkowski, adds: “It is exciting that the world of Witcher – as planned in the very beginning – is expanding. I hope it will bring more fans to the world of my books.”
The shooting of The Witcher: Blood Origin will take place in the UK.