Netflix has announced they’ve found their lead star for their series of The Witcher. Henry Cavill (Mission Impossible – Fallout) has been chosen to star as Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who gets caught up protecting a sorceress and young princess from danger. The series is based on the fantasy book series by Andrzej Sapkowski.
Geralt of Rivia has been described as “Stoic. Circumspect. Balanced. Fierce. Soft and squishy in a tiny place in his heart that he’ll never reveal until maybe the end and even then it will just be a hint.” Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s The Defenders) previously broke down all the characters that would appear in the series.
Hissrich serves as writer, executive producer and showrunner of the series. Director Alik Sakharov (Game of Thrones) will helm a total of four episodes, including the pilot, and also serve as executive producer. Other directors include Alex Garcia Lopez (Marvel’s Luke Cage) and Charlotte Brändström (Outlander), who will direct two episodes each.
The Witcher franchise spans more than just novels, but includes comics, tabletop games and very popular video games, the most recent being 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that has shipped over 10 million copies and gone onto become one of the most awarded video games ever. It was also previously adapted as a live-action Polish-language TV series.
Based on the best-selling fantasy series, The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, 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, the three must learn to navigate the increasingly volatile Continent together.
