When English actor Henry Cavill was announced as the man who would lead Netflix's The Witcher,
starring on the Lauren Schmidt Hissrich -created series as the rugged monster-hunter Geralt
of Rivia, the internet had a collective breakdown.
Fans of The Witcher — both the collection of books written by Andrzej Sapkowski and
the CD Projekt Red-backed video game series based upon those creative works - were equal
parts stoked and skeptical about Cavill portraying such a beloved character.
"You look like trouble."
"Dead wrong.
I make trouble go away.
I'm a witcher."
How well would he embody the silver-haired beast-slayer?
Was he the right fit to play the part?
Would he prove himself a worthy witcher?
Despite the show's grim and intriguing trailers, some people may have needed a bit more time
to be convinced that Cavill was absolutely the right choice for Geralt — but one person
who knew from the get-go that Cavill was the one was Lauren Schmidt Hissrich herself.
Looper recently spoke with Hissrich, who opened up about how Cavill landed the role of Geralt
in The Witcher.
According to Hissrich, one reason why Cavill was a clear choice to portray Geralt of Rivia,
who undergoes physical training and intense mutations to become a witcher at Kaer Morhen,
was because he was already well-versed in Witcher lore - book series and video game
franchise alike.
Hissrich admitted:
"Henry is a huge fan of the game.
We met very early in the process and he had played all of the video games.
He's quite the gamer himself.
And when he heard that Netflix was making a show based on the books, he went out and
read all of the books."
Though the Netflix series hadn't started the casting process when Hissrich and Cavill met
one another, Hissrich "loved his passion and enthusiasm" for The Witcher.
When Hissrich hired directors and writers and began penning scripts for the series,
that's when casting officially began.
Hissrich explained that her approach to casting is always, quote, "to see everyone, to see
different levels of actors from all over the world - people who are very well-known [and]
people who've never been on television before."
She and the Witcher team wanted to ensure that they were, quote, "exploring every avenue
to find the best Geralt," and in the end, Hissrich met with "207 potential Geralts."
So, how did Hissrich land on Cavill after seeing hundreds of actors gunning for the
role of Geralt?
As she tells it, she simply couldn't get Cavill's voice out of her mind while other actors auditioned
to lead The Witcher.
Thus, Hissrich knew Cavill was the perfect man for the job.
"People call you a monster too."
"Why not kill them?"
"Because then I am what they say I am."
Hissrich shared:
"At the end of the day, though, I realized that I actually kind of had Henry Cavill's
voice in my head, and I called him and explained basically this whole thing and he was like,
'Great, if you want me, I want you to know that I'm the right person.
I want you to have seen everyone and met everyone.'
And we met up again and we talked for several hours.
And by the time we left that day, I knew that I had found our Geralt."
As mentioned, Cavill had something of an advantage going into The Witcher through his extensive
knowledge of the source material.
As most already know, Netflix's The Witcher is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's books rather
than on the video game series' story, so Cavill knew he had to brush up on the narrative behind
the narrative of the games he played through.
Now, if the thought of having to read a ton of text before the December 20 premiere of
The Witcher in order to enjoy and understand the series has suddenly sent a shiver down
your spine, take a deep breath - Hissrich has assured that the show will satisfy existing
Witcher fans without pushing away people who are unfamiliar with the property.
No matter if you've played the Witcher games or have never picked one up before, read everything
Sapkowski has written or haven't gotten around to doing so, it seems you'll be pleased with
Netflix's The Witcher.
“Do not tell me that this is finally the moment that you've decided to actually care
about someone other than yourself."
"Don't touch Roach."
She dished:
"The show has to appeal to and surprise existing fans.
That's our core enthusiastic bait.
Part of what I've loved in working on the show is getting on, at first, Twitter and
then Instagram and even finally I got on Reddit recently [and] really sort of delving into
the fandom and seeing what they like.
What I tried to do is take the stories that they loved and they were familiar with, but
to tell them in a different way, which is part of the structural changes that you'll
actually see in the show.
We're sort of [saying], 'Let's basically present this story in slightly different dressing.'"
She continued, noting that the series' creative team kept in mind not to, quote, "alienate
people who've never heard of The Witcher before," and made careful decisions to ensure that
those new to the property can enjoy the upcoming series just as much as longtime fans.
Hissrich explained:
"You want to make sure that there's things for them to fall in love with, too.
For instance, in the first episode, we only meet Geralt and Ciri I found that in trying
to explain what a witcher was and to learn all of these new names and all of these new
places and things that sound unfamiliar and trying to wrap your head around the politics
of the world, what I want to do is hold off introducing Yennefer because I wanted to make
sure I was giving it in bite-sized pieces.
And then what that allowed us to do, in episode two, [was] to let both Ciri and Geralt take
a slight backseat and really delve into Yennefer and to make sure we understand where she's
coming from."
In Hissrich's words, The Witcher is, quote, "really a mix of both - trying to make sure
that the story is engaging for fans, but also really exciting for people who've never heard
of the project."
No doubt that Henry Cavill's handsome mug will also pull viewers into the show, the
first eight episodes of which hit Netflix on December 20th.
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