Superman is headed to Velen. Yup, Henry Cavill’s officially been cast as the cat-eyed, monster-slaying, lady-killer Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher. Based on the bestselling books by Polish author Andrezj Sapkowski and influenced by the hugely successful video game series created by CD Projekt Red, Cavill will be playing a mutant monster hunter drifting from town to town dealing with slavering abominations, political machinations and manipulative (and generally very bosomy) Sorceresses.
Lauren Schmidt, who’s worked on several of Marvel’s shows for Netflix, is the writer, executive producer and showrunner of the series, with the directors including alumni from Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Outlander, Counterpart and Luke Cage. With Game of Thrones airing its final season in 2019, Netflix will be eager for The Witcher to fill the dragon-shaped gap in fantasy television and if they’ve snagged a name as big as Cavill for it, then the sky’s the limit.
As a fan of the books and the three Witcher games, I think Cavill’s great casting. As recently as early August he’d discussed his desire to portray the role and when asked in an interview which games he was currently playing, he said: “The Witcher 3. I just replayed all the way through. Love that game. Really good game.” The next question was whether he would be interested in hanging up his red cape to play Geralt, to which the actor replied: “Absolutely. Yeah, that would be an amazing role.” He then went on to praise Sapkowski’s books, dubbing them “amazing.”
Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get a look at Cavill in full Witcher gear as Geralt (though this mockup by BossLogic looks great). While it’ll be a little strange hearing the character voiced by someone other than Doug Cockle, Cavill will no doubt bring the charm, physicality and sense of danger that the role demands.
This casting will of course add fuel to the rumors that Cavill will not be appearing as Superman in any upcoming Worlds of DC films, but at the very least, his time spent shooting The Witcher means that it’s unlikely we’ll see Man of Steel 2 be announced anytime soon.
Tell us, are you happy to hear that Henry Cavill’s landed the role of Geralt, or did you have someone else in mind? As always, you can share your thoughts with us down below.