Henry Cavill was incredibly eager to play Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s 2019 show The Witcher video games the books inspired. In the show, Cavill plays the titular "witcher," a human who was mutated to better kill monsters.
The DCEU actor had already firmly established himself as one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood long before The Witcher began pre-production, from his turns as The Witcher is something of a ion project for the renowned British actor.
When Henry Cavill first learned that a Netflix adaptation of The Witcher was in development, he reportedly badgered his agents to get him a meeting with the showrunners. He was incredibly keen to play Geralt and wanted an opportunity to lobby for the role. Cavill himself itted that “It was something I wasn’t going to let me by without giving it my best shot. I annoyed my agents all the time” [via Vulture]. Why was the action superstar so invested in The Witcher?
Cavill revealed that he has long been a fan of The Witcher video games, having played the 100-hour long The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt through two and a half times. Video games are a way for the actor to escape the pressures of his day-to-day life, so he explained in an interview with GQ Magazine, and though the Netflix series is inspired more by its written source material than the video game franchise, Cavill was nonetheless eager to play the famed Geralt of Rivia.
The actor was so insistent that Netflix eventually agreed to meet with him. By that point, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich had not yet written the script, nor did she have a clear idea of the show’s direction, so his portrayal was widely praised.