THE WITCHER: Henry Cavill On The Leap From Playing Multiple Runs Of THE WITCHER 3 To Starring As Geralt

THE WITCHER: Henry Cavill On The Leap From Playing Multiple Runs Of THE WITCHER 3 To Starring As Geralt

Perhaps Henry Cavill's tumultuous run as the Man of Steel was simply meant to serve as a stepping stone to portraying the deadly Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's live-action adaptation of The Witcher?

By MarkJulian - Jul 20, 2019 02:07 PM EST
Filed Under: The Witcher
Source: IGN
Whether we'll ever see Henry Cavill as Superman again appears to be in limbo, yet the 36-year-old British actor appears to be doing just fine as it's rumored that August Walker will return for the next Mission: Impossible Installment.  Additionallythe reaction coming in following the first trailer for Netflix's The Witcher adaptation appears to indicate that Cavill will be leading another franchise.

An avid gamer,  it should come as no surprise that Cavill had already clocked in multiple playthroughs of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt well before he was ever cast as Geralt of Rivia.

"For me personally, it'd be like playing another run of the Witcher 3 but with a completely different skin on...I've played it through a number of times now, and it's like 'OK, cool, I've done it, I've seen, and I still get that enjoyment of playing it through, but what if I could play it slightly differently?' Yeah, this is kind of what it is for me when you're doing the show. Yes, it's Geralt of Rivia, the Witcher, but he looks like me now. For me, that's an interesting thing. It creates a freshness to it because the themes are still very similar.

The Witcher has yet to be given an exact release date by Netflix with the streaming giant only committing to a late-2019 release thus far.  Looking for more news on The Witcher adaptation from Netflix? Click the link below which also includes officially released images of Geralt, Ciri, Yenner and most importantly, Roach.

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The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promised fans that the show won't simply be sex and monster fighting.

"All of our characters have sorts of side journeys, and we wanted to take the space to actually get to know them as characters, their relationships with other people, and eventually their relationships with each other. That's just as important to us as epic quests or killing monsters, so we definitely left space for that."  
 
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Newcomer Freya Allan (17) portrays Ciri in the fantasy television show.  In the novels, she's adoptive daughter of Geralt whose backstory serves as the crux for much of the plot in both the games and the novels.  
 
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Anya Chalotra (23) portrays Yennefer, Geralt's primary love interest for most of the novels and books (Team Triss FTW!). Chalotra is best known for roles in Wonderlust and Sherwood.
  
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Having played Superman, Cavill stated that he understands well that its a no-win situation trying to satisfy every single fan's vision of what characters and places should look like in real life.

"It's tough, there's always going to be someone or someones that who will have a different idea, that's the beauty of adapting a book. Everyone has their own mental imagery of what a character looks like or how they behave or what they sound like. It's about going all in and making it what you think it is. It's not necessarily conforming to what every single person says on the internet, because then you'll lose. Because everyone says something different and it's different for everyone. You just provide what your insight to the character is and who you believe they are, and you go from there."  
 
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Was Henry Cavill's Geralt drinking a decoction (a poisonous Witcher potion) at the end of the SDCC trailer? It certainly appeared that way but Cavill stopped short of confirming anything in an interview with IGN, alluding to the posibility of other items from the video game series that might have a similar affect.

"I’m not going to reveal anything yet about that, because there are too many parallels drawn with other products as well, which we are not drawing parallels too."
 
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When she iniitally read the script for the project, showrunner Lauren Hissrich didn't think it was right for her but when Netflix actually approached, she took a second look and keyed in on the core story revolving around Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer. 

"If you take all the other fantasy elements away, you take the magic and story and violence and sex away, you still have three characters who are this broken disjointed family who really need each other even though they don’t want to admit it. And that was one of the most appealing things to me."

 
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Though the show will contain some elements from the video games, the Netflix adaptation will more closely follow the books and more precisely, starting with some of the prequel short stories that recount adventures before the events of Book 1 of The Witcher Saga: Blood of Elves.  Expect the story to pick up with 1992's Sword of Destiny. 
 
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There won't be an outright villain in the first season of the show. Instead, its been revealed that The Witcher will deal with the "shades of grey" within everyone.  
 
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On whether the show has a PG-13 vibe or will be closer to Game of Thrones, Hissirch stated that it's definitely not  a PG-13 show. 

"It’s a very adult show. I will add it was important to me that any violence or sex drives the story and is not there just for shock value. I think audiences are really savvy and know when we’re doing stuff to just shock them versus do stuff that really drives the story."
 


The worst monsters are the ones we create. Watch the first official teaser for The Witcher, Season 1.

THE WITCHER Star Liam Hemsworth Reveals Why He Was Excited To Take Over As Geralt Of Rivia
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MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 7/20/2019, 2:08 PM
Now an influx of information is starting to seep through from comic con. I have to make it one year just to see the craziness of it. Maybe I'll just go to Chicago's I'm not sure how similar they are.

Anyway, never played Witcher I don't know if that's sad or not. I'll watch the show though for sure. Who knows, maybe I'll go back and play at least one of them.
tmp3
tmp3 - 7/20/2019, 2:11 PM
This dude looks even bigger than usual in this, which I didn't think was possible. Can only imagine how much he needs to eat to maintain that through the 6 month shoot
LongMayHeReign
LongMayHeReign - 7/20/2019, 2:19 PM
@tmp3 -

GYM GOALS!!!

Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 7/20/2019, 2:21 PM
@LongMayHeReign - He's built like a Masters of the Universe action figure.
Havenless
Havenless - 7/20/2019, 2:16 PM
NERD
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 7/20/2019, 2:27 PM
It's cool he's a fan of the game. It's a great game. The show feels a lot more like the books (and I assume if they aren't required reading for the cast that they've done summaries on themes and important character notes).

I'm still concerned with exactly who Cavill thinks Geralt is. The game is great, but it saps a lot of his agency and plays Geralt fairly bland even with severe character choices. It's just hard to convey his inner life through a game the way the omniscient narrator does in the books. Outwardly stoic always, but through the narrator the reader can feel every sting Geralt doesn't flinch at, feel how deep every betrayal is to him, and his desperate loneliness and frustration with a world that can't bring itself to find peace, love, or understanding.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 7/20/2019, 2:32 PM
I was watching an interview where the interviewer was asking the cast on what they tried to bring to their version of the characters, and Cavill said he didn’t, and that he’s a purest and he just wanted to stay true to the material.

Even though the way his Superman was handled was no fault fault of his own at all, to me it really seems like to me Cavill wants to get this one right. And I hope it works out for him.

And me, because I loved Witcher 3.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 7/20/2019, 2:47 PM
@PlusUltra - I have never doubted Cavill's sincerity (with Geralt or Superman). He seems to be a legitimately committed guy who just wants to get it right. What concerns me is whether he's got the right conception of these characters and can follow through on it.

When he was talking about Red Son being his definitive Superman story, it shook me. It's a good enough Elseworlds story, but it's fundamentally about Superman's failings and blindspots. About how something good and pure can be so easily perverted by circumstance. Cavill may be a totally nice dude (I don't know him, and I don't hate him on any kind of personal level), but that was a huge red flag for me.

That said, it's totally possible that the often misunderstood, super-earnest and dedicated misfit is the right role for him and this match is kismet. I definitely hope so. (I guess we're stuck with him either way, right?)
Webheaded225
Webheaded225 - 7/20/2019, 2:44 PM
That trailer looked pretty cool. I'm hyped.
PAbloYocroNUtS
PAbloYocroNUtS - 7/20/2019, 3:02 PM
Is Netflix pulling my legolas? The CGI in this looks like it was made with Legolas blocks. To Netflix I say, “Legolas my Eggo!” Heed the Book of Matthew, Netflix, when it proclaims, “So the legolas shall be first, and the first legolas.”
Ghostnuzzler98
Ghostnuzzler98 - 7/20/2019, 3:44 PM
@PAbloYocroNUtS - This was a good effort, but honestly the comment kinda stopped being funny for me after the third time you used “Legolas” as a pun...
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 7/20/2019, 4:14 PM
I liked what I saw. I know thing about The Witcher but I think the show will easily turn me into a fan.
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