Henry Cavill’s Commitment To ‘The Witcher’ Was ‘Beautiful,’ According To Creator
Netflix original series The Witcher is just a few weeks away from its big debut, and lead Henry Cavill was very committed to his role as Geralt. Executive producer Tomek Baginski recently commented on the actor’s dedication to playing Geralt of Rivia when catching up with ComicBook.com. Cavill has been amping up interest for The Witcher on his Instagram for some time now and appears to be very passionate about the project. Baginski noted how hard Cavill worked to bring Geralt to life, and how his dedication wasn’t just there on-set but off the set as well.
“It’s about Henry, and how he became Geralt, and how he embraced this character and he literally became this guy. He was walking around in the jacket to make it work, because the leather had to be worn out, and there is no other way than to just live in this wardrobe, in this cloth, to make it work. For many weeks he was sticking close to the set, so he can be closer to the ‘Witcher’ world. He was there. He became this character…. You don’t have very often an actor who is so committed to the role, and this was beautiful. It was such a great, great thing to work with.”
Geralt is the protagonist in The Witcher series, which first started out as a string of novels and short stories. Witchers have supernatural abilities that allow them to hunt beasts and monsters. Geralt, also known as the White Wolf, makes a living hunting these monsters, but it’s been confirmed that the Netflix series will stray a bit from the published books.
Cavill’s dedication to the new series wasn’t just for his own process; it was for longtime fans of The Witcher. The series has a cult following, and Cavill recently expressed to Men’s Health that the story and the characters matter a lot to fans of the books and video games, and therefore it mattered a lot to him. It was also reported that the Man of Steel actor wanted to play Geralt so badly that he basically bugged the powers-that-be at Netflix for a chance, and he ultimately beat out over 200 other actors for the role. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich admitted she never forgot Cavill’s audition and claimed she always saw him as Geralt from the get-go.
The fantasy character is quite different from others Cavill has played in the past and will truly test his versatility as an actor. The 36-year-old is mostly known for portraying Clark Kent/Superman and has mostly stayed within the action movie genre. Cavill proved himself an action star in the superhero flicks, as well as in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible — Fallout.
The Witcher debuts on Netflix on December 20.
