Michelle Yeoh is, by all accounts from the cast, the sword-twirling, scene-stealing star of The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Police Story 3, Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Sunshine, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Avatar 2, and more – Yeoh has always been everything, everywhere, all at once.
She stars as Scían in The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel series set 1,200 years before the events of the flagship Netflix show, chronicling the creation of the first prototype Witcher and the “conjunction of the spheres”, when the worlds of elves, humans, and monsters collided and formed the Continent we know.
In a cast of relative unknowns, she’s undoubtedly the headliner, and an “absolute legend” to boot.
The Witcher Blood Origin cast talk working with Michelle Yeoh
Yeoh’s Scían is one of seven strangers who come together in the Elven golden era prior to the conjunction of the spheres, fighting alongside Fjall of Dog Clan (Laurence O’Fuarain), Brother Death (Huw Novelli), the mages Zacharé (Lizzie Annis) and Syndril (Zach Wyatt), Meldof (Francesca Mills) and her hammer Gwen, and Éile the Lark (Sophia Brown).
Dexerto sat down with the cast ahead of The Witcher: Blood Origin’s release on Netflix this Christmas, and we asked them what it was like working with Yeoh.
O’Fuarain described her as “an absolute legend… I think we learned a lot from her. She comes in, gets the work done, and enjoys the day. She’s an absolute joy to work with.
“The days were long and tough, but they brought us over about a couple of months before the actual cameras went up, and they went through the choreography and we went through the stunt training and rehearsals with the stunt coordination.
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“Yeah, I think we found our characters through that process and we were able to really bond through and play off each other.”
Brown echoed his comments, saying: “Michelle was incredible to work with. I’ve been a fan for so many years, so it was incredible to watch her and learn from her.”
Mills, who gets some teeth-clinching hits with her hammer, recalled watching Yeoh in action as one of the highlights of her time on the series. “I just loved learning the fights and watching everyone else fight, watching Michelle Yeoh fight,” she said.
Novelli added: “Oh my days, when I looked in the script and I saw that we had a fight scene with Michelle Yeoh… you couldn’t have wiped the grin off my face. You know, to just sit there and watch a legend at work in Michelle Yeoh is just a pleasure, an absolute pleasure.”
Mirren Mack, who plays Princess Merwyn, was particularly effusive, describing her time with Yeoh as an “amazing experience.”
“She is such a brilliant person… a really generous person. And working-wise, I was in awe, really, of this amazing actor. I felt I had to pick up my jaw from because there’s a real sort of brilliance to her. Just watching what she was doing… this is just someone who’s excellent at their craft and has such brilliant ability as an actor. So it was really amazing.”
The Witcher: Blood Origin hits Netflix on December 25. Find out more here.
