The Witcher: Blood Origin, the prequel spin-off of Netflix of his popular fantasy series, took a hit after that her lead actress has left the cast. Jodie Turner-Smith, which he should have interpreted Éile, the elite elven warrior, left the series due to conflicts in programming. In a brief statement, a Netflix spokesperson confirmed Turner-Smith's departure from the news agency, but declined to comment on the matter further.
"Due to a change in the production schedule for The Witcher: Blood Origin Netflix Original Series, sadly Jodie Turner-Smith will no longer be able to continue as Éile," the Netflix spokesperson said. According to Turner-Smith's plans, the only other production for which the star of Queen & Slim is at work is the action thriller Borderland. Turner-Smith was cast with John Boyega and Felicity Jones in the film, but little else is known about it.
In theory, the timing of this abandonment shouldn't be too problematic for the show. Turner-Smith was cast in the role of Éile only in January, plus principal photography on Blood Origin has yet to officially begin. Also, the showrunner Declan de Barra had only started writing the script for the series in September 2020.
In practice, however, it's certainly not ideal to have lost Turner-Smith from the cast alone a month before Netflix starts filming The Witcher: Blood Origin. At this point, production will have to reopen selections to identify the new actress who will play the protagonist Éile. The filming of the second season of The Witcher, also for Netflix, has ended a few weeks ago, and now all the attention will be directed to this new and interesting project, which, however, inevitably, will suffer a strong setback.
