The Witcher: Blood Origin, the brand-new spin-off based on the wider Witcher books and serving as a prequel to the mainline series, has managed to earn the worst Rotten Tomatoes score ever. Yikes.
Launching on Christmas Day, the new mini-series takes place more than a thousand years before the Netflix show, the games and original books.
The expanded lore of the popular dark and gory fantasy world is vast and fiendishly studied by die-hards, so a show diving into that should be a no-brainer, right?
Well, sadly, through a combination of seemingly genuine bad reviews and people simply being outraged that the main Witcher series no longer features its star, it looks like the new show is being heavily review-bombed.
Despite being currently sat at 33% and 10%, its audience score dropped at low as 8%. (Credit: Rotten Tomatoes)
In case you were unaware of some of the latest blockbuster shenanigans happening in Hollywood over the last few weeks, Geralt of Rivia himself, Henry Cavill, recently stepped away from the show to reportedly prioritise on training for his return as Superman.
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However, shortly after, it was announced by new DC Studios chairmen James Gunn and Peter Safran that they were dropping the 39-year-old actor as they hoped to pursue a new star to take on the role — you know, the same one he’d just stepped away from his reported £350,000-an-episode deal to focus on.
Yes, we know he’s a millionaire, but die-hard Henry stans obviously felt terrible for him, leaving one dream job for another beloved franchise that essentially helped put both himself and modern DC movies on the map, only to find out that he was no longer needed.
Furthermore, fans are now speculating that Cavill quit The Witcher after two highly-successful and well-paying seasons following disputes with the showrunners. A relative on-set expert as a genuine lover of the books and the games, Cavill is said to have struggled to “see eye to eye with the producers”.
Speaking to Hollywood Reporter, the Man of Steel and Mission: Impossible – Fallout star said “the toughest part for me was finding that balance between the showrunners’ vision and my love for the books”, even going on to add that “some of the writers were not [interested] or actively disliked the books and games, even actively mocking the source material.”
If this is to be believed then it’s no wonder that showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich, who is also overseeing the Blood Origin spin-off, seems to have annoyed not onlythosewho love Henry Cavill but now Witcher fans in general.
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While plenty of the Rotten Tomatoes reviews limit themselves to calling out those involved in the production for their ‘incompetence’ and ‘lack of respect’, the online consensus beyond the popular review aggregator seems to be that the writing simply isn’t up to snuff.
i wanted to at least give it a shot and i just… i know i've seen worse shows in my life but i can't think of many right now that are worse
The CGI looks hideous & cheap. Writing & dialogue is a mess. Acting isn't very good with Michelle Yeoh's talents wasted. The story is rushed into four hours. Netflix completely changed the origin of The Witchers.
This show is yet another slap in the face to longtime fans.
2022 really has been a race to the bottom when it comes to entertainment, especially the fantasy genre. First Rings of Power, then Willow, now Witcher: Blood Origin – each of them more terrible than the last.
As always, it’s worth watching and forming your own opinion before letting other people’s takes colour your own impressions but it’s fair to say it isn’t looking good for the future of the franchise’s TV adaptations.
Whether the negativity is being largely driven by review-bombing by the Henry Cavill faithful or not, it looks unlikely that there’ll be a resolution as Liam Hemsworth has already been named as the replacement for the main character, Geralt.
Moreover, since Cavill left/was dropped from both projects, he is once again being tipped to play an equally iconic pop culture protagonist in particular. Have a guess…
Hans Zimmer at Co-op Live, Manchester – movie magic brought to life
Lonnie Bowes
What do Batman, Kung Fu Panda, and Captain Jack Sparrow all have in common? Music by Hans Zimmer, of course.
I must admit it’s an odd sight seeing 20,000 people seated in the Co-op Live. Manchester is no stranger to a big night out, but this is a different beast entirely. No mosh pits, no flying pints, no one on anyone’s shoulders. Just a full orchestra, a choir, and a wall of screens.
At the centre of it all is conductor Matt Dunkley, steering the Odessa Orchestra & Friends through some of the most recognisable music ever put to film. Zimmer appears on the big screens between pieces to introduce the music and the stories behind it. I was disappointed that Hans didn’t make an appearance but let me tell you this performance was no less impressive.
And in no time at all the gloves came off. Batman is, quite simply, incredible. All menace and muscle, strings sawing away like something is about to go very wrong, brass and percussion hitting so hard you feel it in your ribcage before you hear it.
Gladiator pulls things the other way. Where Batman pins you to your seat, this one lifts you out of it in a big way. Lets face it, if you are some what of a self respecting movie head, you’ll have seen Gladiator and know first hand how ‘Now we are free’ can command your mood. Well imagine that in person.
If the orchestra is the engine, the Nairobi Chamber Chorus is the heart. When their voices rise for The Lion King, it stops being a concert and becomes something closer to gospel.
Hans Zimmer at Co-op Live. Credit: The Manc Group
Because beneath the scale and the spectacle, there’s something more intentional at play. These pieces of music are part of people’s lives. We are talking first trips to the cinema, films watched with parents, soundtracks that got someone through a rough year.
And then there’s Interstellar. ‘No Time for Caution’ creates it own suspense. The organ churns, the tempo tightens like a ticking clock, you genuinely find yourself gripping the armrest as if you’re the one trying to dock a spinning spacecraft.
Time, from Inception, is the other side of that coin when it comes to what it emotes during the performance. It’s slow, it’s patient and it’s moving. It builds from almost nothing, layer on layer.
After all that, there’s only one way to send people home. Pirates of the Caribbean closes the night at full tilt. You think everything is drawing to end, Matt Dunkley has already guided you to the apex of nights performance, but no. Hans Zimmer flashes on to the screen one more time and alluded that’s we aren’t at the finish line just yet. Strings galloping, the whole orchestra going hell for leather. Heads nodding, feet stamping, grins everywhere.
Epic, emotional and beautifully played. This wasn’t just a concert it was a reminder: that a piece of music can take you somewhere else entirely, and that you don’t need a single lyric to make thousands of strangers feel the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Hats off to every musician on that stage. You absolutely smashed it.
Liam Gallagher says he turned down an offer to be on The Celebrity Traitors… and the reason why is baffling
Emily Sergeant
Liam Gallagher says he turned down an offer to be on The Celebrity Traitors… but the reason why is not what you’d expect.
It’d be easy enough to imagine the Oasis frontman saying no to a trip to the castle due to work commitments, or maybe because he’s just wanting to rest up ahead the massive Oasis Live ’27 tour next year, but surprisingly (or maybe unsurprisingly… this is Liam Gallagher we’re talking about, after all) that isn’t the case.
If you’ve never seen The Celebrity Traitors before, it’s a spinoff of the wildly popular main series, The Traitors, and it sees famous faces take part in the ultimate test of deceit and betrayal.
Some of the celebrities taking part this series include Richard E Grant, Miranda Hart, James Blunt, Maya Jama, James Acaster, and more as part of a stacked lineup.
A stacked lineup that Liam Gallagher would undeniably have been a very entertaining part of, but despite this, the rockstar has revealed that not only did he receive an offer to appear on the show, he actually turned it down.
@starshapedcarab I’ve been asked it’s not my thing I’m not a celebrity
Answering a fan’s comment on Twitter this week, Liam confirmed that he had received an offer but it wasn’t really his ‘thing’.
The tweet in question declared: “They should put Liam [Gallagher] on Celebrity Traitors”, to which Gallagher replied: “I’ve been asked [but] it’s not my thing.”
After offering up reason of it not being his ‘thing’ as to why he turned the show down, he then followed up with a slightly more baffling explanation too: “I’m not a celebrity,” he concluded.
We can only assume the denial of celebrity status is due to the fact that Liam doesn’t like the word, and not because he doesn’t consider himself to be famous, as coming off the back of the globally successful Oasis Live ’25 tour and ahead of the upcoming Oasis Live ’27, the band arguably couldn’t be more of a household name.
Many of the comments in response to Liam’s declaration point out that he could be a contestant on the normal BBC series instead, if he doesn’t consider himself a ‘celebrity’. Others also made sure to note that he appeared on an episode of Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox, so he didn’t appear to have an issue with the word then.
So, will LG ever change his mind then? Only time will tell.
Danny Jones -
28th December 2022 
