Henry Cavill has long been a self-professed fan of The Witcher games and books. So when he was cast as Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix adaptation, fans heaved a sigh of relief. After all, many thought that at least he would guarantee that the titular character was portrayed accurately to the source material. That seems to have been Cavill’s intention as well right from the very beginning, but his departure from the franchise signaled that there was something wrong behind the scene.
Henry Cavill Always Wanted A Book Accurate Geralt Of Rivia
In a 3-year-old interview with the Heat World YouTube channel for promoting season 1 of Netflix’s The Witcher, Henry Cavill stated that one of the reasons he was interested in getting the role of Geralt was because he wanted to accurately represent the character. As per Cavill:
“I have been a fan of the fantasy genre since I was a boy, my dad would read to me before I could read and then any of my free time would be spent reading, more often than not the fantasy genre. I am a PC gamer as well, (I played) a lot of role-playing games in the fantasy genre, played The Witcher games, played The Witcher 3 twice, and this is the kind of thing I do in my free time, so if I get to do it as my job and get paid for doing my hobby was ideal. And I wanted to make sure that Geralt was represented as accurately as possible.”
Cavill’s words confirm that he was always interested in portraying a book accurate Geralt of Rivia from the very beginning. But his departure hints at him not being satisfied with the treatment the character was getting in the show. A former writer on The Witcher team, Beau DeMayo, also seemingly backed up the rumors during a Q and A held on his Instagram stories. He stated that the writer’s room didn’t respect the source material. As per him:
“I’ve been on a show – namely Witcher – where some of the writers were not or actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material). It’s a recipe for disaster and bad morale. Fandom as a litmus test checks egos and makes all the long nights worth it. You have to respect the work before you’re allowed to add to its legacy.”
His words seem to prove that Cavill left The Witcher series because he was unhappy with the changes made to the source material. If true, it’s a sad tale because the actor apparently trained harder to portray Geralt than he did any other character.
Henry Cavill Trained Harder For The Witcher Than For Superman
In the interview, the host questioned Henry Cavill if had trained harder for portraying Geralt than he did for playing the Man of Steel. The Justice League actor replied he did his best with the time he had. He explained:
“I train hard every time. For this one we had a limitation on time, when you are two hours in hair and makeup every morning, it’s an hour to travel to work, then you are working an 11-hour day, which almost always goes over time and then it’s an hour home, but you also gotta go to the gym before getting to bed, it all ends up you don’t have any time to do anything.. you are just exhausted after a full day.”
His answer shows how committed he was to play the character right. But he was allegedly let down by a team of writers who didn’t see eye-to-eye with him and seemingly disrespected Andrzej Sapkowski’s work. It remains to be seen if season 3 of The Witcher is an improvement over the past two seasons or not.
The Witcher season 3 is rumored to release in the summer of 2023.
Source: Heat World
