Henry Cavill Reveals What Excited Him Most About Taking On The Witcher

The release of Netflix's The Witcher is under a month away now when the first full season of the show will air and we'll see Henry Cavill's version of Geralt of Rivia. In the leadup to the show's release, Cavill has spoken more about the character and what he was most excited for when it comes to playing the character that people hold in such high regard. While The Witcher is bound to have tons of epic fights and callbacks to the source material, Cavill said he's looking forward to understanding how Geralt fits into the mythical world around him.

Cavill spoke to Men's Health about his role in The Witcher among other past roles like his time as Superman and his character in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Men's Health reported that Cavill was adamant about doing his own stunts in The Witcher which means that it'll be the actor himself who you see swinging swords of silver and steel when the show releases. The conversation then turned to understanding Geralt as a character which Cavill is most excited for.

"It's funny how much he's actually like us," Cavill said. "Geralt has that thing of trying so damn hard and being misconstrued or not appreciated—of people having a negative opinion of you, despite you actually trying to do the right thing."

Anyone who's played The Witcher series or read the novels will recall how Geralt is treated in his travels and will know that Cavill's vision of the character is spot-on. Even in the first trailer for The Witcher that's seen above, we get to see this kind of situation Geralt often finds himself in. Despite slaying monsters for people – for profit and sometimes for personal reasons – Geralt himself is often seen as a monster by those who don't understand him.

The decision to cast Cavill as Geralt has been talked about by those in charge of the show numerous times since the casting decision was first announced. Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich added to those talks in the Men's Health interview by saying she kept coming back to the idea of Cavill as Geralt since his personality seemed to fit well with the character.

"But all the time I was writing, I kept hearing Henry's voice in my head," Hissrich said. "In the books, Geralt is fearsome, but he also has this amazing dry wit. We needed someone to play both ends of the spectrum, someone who could see all the trauma of the world he's in but could also step back and roll his eyes once in a while."

Netflix's The Witcher is scheduled to release on Netflix on December 20th.