The Witcher prequel Blood Origin has its lead warrior

Netflix has announced the first cast for The Witcher prequel series Blood Origin.

Jodie Turner-Smith, who starred in Queen & Slim and Nightflyers, plays Éile, "a fierce warrior with the voice of a goddess".

The six-part live action limited series is a prequel story set 1200 years before Geralt and the events we're familiar with from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's books, CD Projekt's games and the Henry Cavill Netflix show. It tells the story of the first Witcher prototype and the Conjunction of the Spheres.

The Conjunction of the Spheres was a cataclysmic event that resulted in monsters arriving from an alternate dimension. It eventually led to the human-packed world fans of The Witcher are familiar with.

The Conjunction of the Spheres is also a book in the first Witcher game. Here's what it says (thanks, Fandom):

"The cataclysm commonly known as the Conjunction of the Spheres happened one and a half millennia ago. A cosmic collision of several parallel universes, this disaster left numerous creatures not native to our reality trapped here. For example, ghouls and graveirs, which lack their own ecological niches are simply relics of the Conjunction.

"The elves claim that humans also arrived in this world during the Conjunction. This occurred soon after they managed to destroy their own world. The elves claim that it was during the Conjunction that humans learned to use magic.

"Of course, these are all vile lies and foul fabrications circulated by nonhumans, who will resort to the most malicious slander to justify their claims."

In other Netflix The Witcher news, Henry Cavill is on the road to recovery after he injured his hamstring and stopped filming the hotly-anticipated second series of The Witcher.