No amount of sword swinging or muscle flexing can fight off an airborne virus, and despite being a magically imbued warrior, Geralt of Rivia is not immune to COVID either it would seem. The Witcher actor, Henry Cavill is confirmed to have come down with a bout of the virus having recently tested positive.
Though this was only alleged initially Netflix has since confirmed that filming for season three has been “paused due to COVID,” adding “we will be up and running as soon as it is safe to do so.” Covid really is causing the film industry quite a headache as this isn’t the first time the virus has caused filming to stop on The Witcher. Filming on season two also had to stop back in 2020 thanks to the pandemic and ultimately pushed the release date back to December 2021.
According to Redanian Intelligence, the cast and crew were just about to start shooting one of the biggest battle scenes of the season, the Thanedd coup, which involved the majority of the show’s characters including Cavill’s Geralt. Filming was set to start on Monday, July 25, but thanks to Cavill’s positive test the whole production has been put on hold.
Thankfully Cavill is a healthy man and is expected to make a quick recovery, but any delay is a disappointment. A delay in production can have knock-on effects thanks to jam-packed filming schedules, affecting not only the actors but all the crew as well. Hopefully, this shouldn’t alter the schedule too much but we still don’t have a release date for the next installment of the critically acclaimed Netflix drama. We can only wish Cavill a speedy recovery and hope that we won’t have to wait too long to see him back as the stoic Geralt we have come to know and love.