Henry Cavill has announced to play the lead, Geralt of Rivia in the upcoming Netflix The Witcher series. Netflix and Hissrich also confirmed the news along with the fact that the first season of The Witcher will be eight episodes long.
Based on the fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski and the wildly popular video game adaptations by CD Projekt Red, The Witcher follows Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), a genetically-enhanced swordsman and solitary monster hunter, as he utilises his abilities to hunt down monsters and defend the lands of ‘The Continent’ from monstrous beasts.
Along the way, he also struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress, and a young princess with a dangerous secret, he must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
The Witcher began as a series of short stories published in Poland in the 1980s. The most recent novel, Season of Storms, was published in 2013. While Sapkowski’s novels have grown in popularity over the years, most know Geralt primarily as the protagonist of the sprawling video game RPGs in CD Projekt Red’s Witcher trilogy, where he’s brought to life by Doug Cockle, whose iconic voice defines Geralt for many fans.
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich serves as the executive producer and showrunner on the series. In addition, Alex Garcia Lopez, Alik Sakharov and Charlotte Brändström will all direct portions of the first season, with Sakharov also serving as executive producer.
Cavill himself is a huge fan of the series, and even stoked rumors of his casting in the show recently by expressing his adoration for the third entry in the series, Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, leading to him posting fan mockups of himself as Geralt on his Instagram account. This will mark Cavill’s first television role since 2010 when he last appeared on Showtime’s historical drama The Tudors.
