Henry Cavill’s turn as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher was unanimously hailed as one of the best live-action adaptation portrayals on television. Be it voice or movement or aesthetic representation or subtle hat tops to in-game references, the actor imbibed the entirety of the character into his on-screen personality, leaving no room at all for debate or qualms about his ability to be the best Geralt there is or ever can be.
And if the end product can be so perfect in its finality, one can only assume the astounding work that Cavill put in behind the scenes to craft the role with precision – be it in the company of stunt coordinators or the writers’ room or on the mat floors of the gym.
The Witcher Stunt Expert Hails Praises on Henry Cavill
It’s not every other day that an actor is so perfectly cast in the role of a certain character that the entirety of the production crew and the audience fall in love almost overnight with them. Henry Cavill’s role in The Witcher amounts to a level of brilliance that can only be dreamt of in rare moments. The actor is not only built in the form of the Witcher but his octave range, his devotion to the art, his inherent grasp over all of the intricacies that make Geralt who he is, and Cavill’s truly everlasting love for Sapkowski’s literature and its subsequent video game adaptation, has made the Brit’s casting nothing short of serendipitous at its core.
Vladimir Furdik, the stuntman and fight sequence designer (famously known for his role as the Night King on Game of Thrones) found the opportunity to work with the critically acclaimed actor and revealed:
“I think Netflix made a very good decision to give the role to Henry because I don’t know anyone else in the world who looks like The Witcher. Or any actor who has as much experience with the sword as Henry. He’s a very good fighter. So it was not difficult for me to teach him anything […] Henry is excellent, without him [Netflix] wouldn’t be able to do [The Witcher], I can guarantee that. I don’t know any actors who are that good with a sword and fight scenes overall as Henry is. I have never met anyone who could learn fight choreography for a scene in two hours.”
Speaking at the Eastern European Comic-Con in 2019, Furdik also drew a comparison between Cavill and GoT veteran, Kit Harington aka Jon Snow, claiming that even the latter’s fight sequences were not as complex as the ones mastered by the Witcher star.
The Production Floors Henry Cavill With Compliments
Henry Cavill’s masterful strokes in portraying Geralt were singularly the most aesthetically and structurally perfect in their execution of each Witcher sequence. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich, knowing what Cavill brought to the table, rightly claimed:
“Henry brings subtleties to this character, finding emotional resonance in small moments, and playing it in such a subtle way that you understand what the character is going through without necessarily having huge chunks of dialogue […] there was so much Henry could do with Geralt that didn’t require my words.”
Cavill himself calls his Geralt role a dream come true for him, considering how invested he has been since the inception of this series and his faithful affinity to the high fantasy novels of Andrzej Sapkowski. In his time on the set playing Geralt, Cavill went above and beyond in crafting his alter ego with precision, claiming:
“I spent all of my free time, and when I wasn’t on set, with a sword in my hand. It was getting used to the weight of the sword, using it day in and day out. I had three swords where I lived, and four at work. And it was just non-stop practice, practice, practice.”
On October 30, 2022, Henry Cavill announced his departure from the series over undisclosed reasons which fans have since then attempted to unearth. In his stead, Australian actor and Hunger Games veteran Liam Hemsworth will take on the mantle of Geralt from The Witcher Season 4. The upcoming third season will be Cavill’s final testament to the White Wolf.
The Witcher is available for streaming on Netflix with Season 3 arriving in two parts on 29 June and 27 July 2023 respectively. Watch the latest teaser trailer here.
Source: Eastern European Comic-Con
