With the second season of The Witcher hitting our screens via Netflix on 17th, December the internet is popping with acclaimed reviews. The show is unashamedly layered and has always rewarded those audiences willing to put in the extra time and effort. That feeling has stemmed from the lead actor, Henry Cavill’s, deep affection for the project.
Often thought of as the show’s leading expert, Cavill has never been shy about his love for Geralt, his character, and the fantasy series from which the show is adapted. Recently, in an interview with Fortress of Solitude, along with her co-star Anya Chalotra aka Yennefer, Freya Allen, who plays Princess Ciri in the series, opened up about Cavill being a “living encyclopaedia” of the show.
Joined by the screenwriter and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich as well, Allen called Cavill a “total nerd” when it came down to The Witcher books. “We are shooting a scene, and he says something like: ‘We should use this sentence taken from page 253 of The Blood of the Elves,'” said Allen.
The fact is that Cavill isn’t only a huge fan of The Witcher but a whole range of different fantasy series. The Superman actor revealed his favourite book series when speaking with Empire. “It’s very difficult to have a go-to fantasy series because they’re all great,” Cavill explained. “They’re all different in their own ways. Raymond E. Feist is a brilliant author. Riftwar, all of them. They’re all fantastic. And I would do any one of those. And Brandon Sanderson has done absolutely brilliant work.”
It shows the strength in depth the genre has for TV adaptations. If past work is anything to go by, the audience for such a prospect is growing day by day. Cavill is certainly an expert in the field.
Cavill also shared his thoughts on the societal acclimatisation to fantasy series. There can be no doubt that since the explosion of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings before it, the mainstream has opened up to such mystical stories. “First of all, it is cool,” replied the star. “Always has been, always will be. And one thing I’ve found is that there’s always going to be someone who’s gonna scrunch their nose up at you. I love fantasy. I’ve always been a big supporter of it and reader of it. And it’s only going to get cooler, as long as there are good executions of it. As long as we have stuff of Lord Of The Rings‘ quality out there, then it’s going to continue growing.”
Better get ourselves back to watching as much high-quality fantasy as we can.
Watch The Witcher season two now.
