We’re only days away from the premiere of Netflix’s new Witcher spinoff, The Witcher: Blood Origin. The four-episode limited series is set thousands of years before the original show, but there will still be some connections to the mothership series. One such connection comes through the inclusion of the shape-shifting storyteller SeanchaÍ, played by Minnie Driver. Driver’s character serves as the narrator of Blood Origin, relaying an ancient tale to the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) for her own mysterious reasons.
“I love fantasy and I love The Witcher, so it was a very cool call to get,” Driver told Entertainment Weekly. “Season 1, for me, really was like perfect television. I then got incredibly busy and I’ve only sporadically watched since, but I was devoted for that first season.”
"They explained [Seanchaí] and I was like, ‘Alright, so I’m not in every episode.’ It’s less cool, but still that’s more a them problem than a me problem. But I really like the character. Who wouldn’t want to be a shapeshifting elf? You’ve got to be pretty hardhearted not to want to do that."
There have been “speculatory conversations” about SeanchaÍ appearing in the main Witcher series
While Blood Origin introduces a ton of new characters, Driver’s SeanchaÍ is particularly intriguing because she’s one of the few who could cross over into the mothership series. SeanchaÍ is an immortal being who collects stories, and with an actor like Driver playing her, it’s easy to imagine how Netflix might want to bring her back.
Driver revealed that there have been “speculatory conversations” about what could happen next for the character. “I think the writers at Netflix are very smart. Like, why not create a character who is functional within the broader universe that you could drop down to further story in a really interesting and exciting way? I would love to do that, actually. I would need the braids to hide my ears so I don’t have to sit and get my ears on for two-and-a-half hours every day.”on ”
However, even if Driver were to make the leap to The Witcher proper, she likely wouldn’t share the screen with Henry Cavill, the actor who played Geralt of Rivia for the show’s first two seasons. Cavill is stepping down from the role after season 3, due out next summer, after which he’ll be replaced by Liam Hemsworth.
Minnie Driver thinks of Henry Cavill’s Witcher recast like the regenerations on Doctor Who
It’s a shame, because Driver and Cavill actually have a lifelong connection: he went to school with her younger brother. “I’ve known Henry since he was a teenager. I love him,” she said. “He has been the loveliest person, I can attest, since he was a young man. He is divine.”
The recasting of Geralt is a sore subject in the fandom right now; there has been a lot of vitriol hurled at the show’s writers since it was announced that he was stepping down. But Driver’s not worried in the least.
One of her son’s teenage friends recently asked her if she had any behind-the-scenes dirt on the switch, and she had a pretty interesting answer:
"We come from this tradition of Doctor Who where the Doctor regenerates. I think we need to look at it far more like it’s amazing. It’s an amazing person, it’s an amazing character, and we should have different people playing it. So that was a really cool conversation with a teenager. He was like, ‘I never thought about it like that.’"
Now if only Minnie Driver can go around and have that same conversation with all those angry people who signed that petition to keep Cavill around, maybe we’ll have peace on the Continent in time for the holidays.
The Witcher: Blood Origin hits Netflix on Christmas Day.
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