The Witcher: Henry Cavill Reveals Just How Far He Went to Get Geralt Dirty Enough

The world of Netflix’s The Witcher is by no means pristine. The characters exist down in the dirt and muck and grime and are regularly coated in grime and blood and worse. For this kind of semi-realistic take on fantasy, authenticity is key, and having folks like Geralt of Rivia (played by Henry Cavill) look the part of a wandering slayer of monsters is important. Even so, it would appear that Cavill took this extremely seriously, going so far as to “roll around in puddles” at times.

“The costumers were, towards the end, quite horrified with me,” Cavill recently told Vanity Fair when asked about looking the part. “Before takes I would look at myself and say, ‘We need more dirt on me.’ They’d come up to me with this tiny little—it’s like a pair of tights rolled up into a ball, with some dust in, and they’d sort of pat it on me. And I’d say, ‘Yeah, guys, that’s not enough.’ So I’d go stand out in the rain. Sometimes I’d roll around in puddles. I would just try and get as much of the world on me, so this character looked like he had lived within it.”

The first eight-episode season of Netflix’s The Witcher is available to stream on the platform now. A second season is in the works, but it had paused filming due to coronavirus concerns. It has now been announced that Season 2 production will restart on August 17th. Lauren S. Hissrich serves as showrunner. It stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, and Freya Allan as Ciri. New cast members for Season 2 include Kim Bodnia (Killing Eve) as Vesemir, Yasen Atour (Young Wallender) as Coen, Agnes Bjorn as Vereena, Paul Bullion (Peaky Blinders) as Lambert, Thue Ersted Rasmussen (Fast and Furious 9) as Eskel, Aisha Fabienne Ross (The Danish Girl) as Lydia, Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) as Nivellen, and Mecia Simson as Francesca. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Netflix’s The Witcher right here.

Have you had a chance to watch Netflix‘s The Witcher? Are you excited for Season 2? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!