Henry Cavill's Persistence Annoyed the Hell Out of the Witcher's Showrunner
The prospect of the long-awaited Season 3 of The Witcher is bittersweet for fans, who know this will be the last time they'll see Henry Cavill playing Geralt of Rivia.
Cavill – a self-proclaimed gaming nerd – was particularly fond of the role, to the point where he even annoyed the show's creator while fighting for the chance to play Geralt.
The Vulture reported in July 2019 (months before Season 1's December release) showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich talked about how Cavill had end up cast in the role.
"He was really annoying," Hissrich said. Apparently, Cavill had his agents badger Schmidt Hissrich and her team to set up a meeting. He relentlessly lobbied for the role. The only problem was: she hadn't even started on the script.
Hissrich told him that the show wasn't even green-lit yet, but finally agreed to meet with him.
"I annoyed my agents all the time," Cavill said, but they continued to tell him that the show just wasn't yet ready to cast.
Eventually, Schmidt Hissich turned the idea into a working script and began to cast the role of The Witcher's lead actor. She met with 206 actors for the role, but she couldn't stop thinking about the persistent Cavill.
He was finally cast in his dream role, but his persistence didn't end there.
Cavill trained in sword fighting to ensure that every scene fans saw on the Netflix show was truly Cavill, not some stunt double. He said all of his free time on-set was spent with a sword, practicing and getting used to its weight.
An avid gamer, Cavill had always hoped The Witcher would be adapted into a television show. He got his wish and refused to let his chance to star in it slip away.
In fact, that passion for the source material and the adamancy to make it perfect is what eventually pushed him away from the role.
As the show went on, the showrunners strayed further and further from the original plotlines and characterization of the video games and the books upon which they were based. A true fan of the original Witcher, Cavill decided last year that he could no longer be part of the show. He'll be finished as Geralt in Season 3, set to be replaced by Liam Hemsworth going forward.
It's a shame that an actor who was so passionate about the purity of his role ended up leaving it because the studio wasn't as passionate about the source material as he was. But in the process, Cavill proved his dedication to the craft and gave fans one of the most iconic television characters of the past decade.