THE WITCHER
WHY CAVILL IS SET TO RAISE SPELL IN THE WITCHER…
Saying hello to the new Game Of Thrones? We go on set with Henry Cavill.
Henry Cavill, dressed in black and with silver locks flowing down his back, stands in a gloomy sanctum, sunlight barely illuminating the archways in the background. As the camera turns, he’s deep in conversation with Adam Levy’s druid Mousesack. “Were you followed?” Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia growls, before they talk of an army amassing nearby, “a sea of black and gold”. Welcome to the set of The Witcher, the latest fantasy show looking to fill the Game Of Thrones-sized hole in your life.
When Small Screen pitches up in Baj, a small town in Hungary some 70km outside of Budapest, it’s near the end of a gruelling seven-month shoot. It’s May 2019; principal photography is set to finish at the end of the month on a hugely ambitious adaptation of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s cult book series, which has already spawned a hugely successful videogame franchise. “I played [the games] terribly, for what it’s worth,” laughs showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (a former scribe on The West Wing), during a break in filming. “I usually play with friends – they take the controller away from me and I end up watching and drinking beer!”
Purists – and Sapkowski – will doubtless be relieved to know that Hissrich is returning to the books to bring us the world of The Witcher. There may be spells, incantations and even time-travelling portals, but this isn’t Harry Potter. “It’s completely different,” enthuses Anya Chalotra (TV’s Wanderlust), the young rising star who plays the powerful sorceress Yennefer. “It has got all these magical elements in it but it’s a very adult show. It’s got a much darker tone,
I think. It’s got sex and violence and fighting and monsters.”
MAN OF ZEAL
Encompassing all of that are the ‘witchers’ themselves, highly trained beast hunters whose mutated powers extend to using magic. The witchers patrol the so-called Continent, a space shared – uneasily – by elves, dwarves, humans and others. Cavill’s Geralt, blessed with greater strength, agility, immunity to disease and resistance to pain than others of his kind, might just be the greatest witcher of all. A superman, you might say…
Except Cavill – a big gamer who’s played all the Witcher titles on PC – sees him as very different to the man of steel he embodied in the film of the same name. “He’s not all chocolate boxes and cuddles,” the star explains. “He’s the kind of guy who will kill you if you mess with him. If you mess with those around him, he will kill you. But at the same time, he will put his own life in grave danger to save a complete stranger from harm. And there’s something wonderful about that.”
While the Netflix-backed show boasts some jaw-dropping creatures
– including the swamp-dwelling Kikimore – Hissrich is keen to extend The Witcher’s reach beyond the hardcore fantasy crowd. “I always call this the ‘mom’ test,” she says. “My mother would never, ever, ever watch The Witcher in real life. So how do I get my mom, a sixty-something woman in Ohio, to want to watch this? The truth is, people come in with preconceptions about what fantasy is, and I think The Witcher tells a lot of really human stories.”
CASTING ABOUT
‘i Think The Witcher Tells A Lot Of Really Human Stories’ Lauren Schmidt Hissrich
As Chalotra puts it, “the family aspects” of the story are vital, not least the bond between Geralt and – in the source material at least – his one true love, Yennefer. Without venturing into spoilers, Chalotra hints that her character’s role has been deepened. “We just see glimpses of her backstory and childhood in the books, and we wanted to explore that. Therefore, she has a huge significance in our version of The Witcher. We develop her a lot, so she’s a very strong leading character.”
Then there is the orphaned Ciri (played by British newcomer Freya Allan), who will ultimately train with Geralt to become a powerful spellcaster. “She’s definitely a crucial part to the story,” says Allan, “because she does have power within her. There are a lot of people that want her.” That said, the show is taking its time, holding back on Ciri’s relationship to Yennefer in the first season. “We’re not necessarily getting too deep into that yet,” says Allan, “but I think it’ll definitely be very interesting to see, because Yennefer wants a child and Ciri wants to have a family and feel cared for again.”
With a shoot that has taken in Poland, Austria, the Canary Islands, and Budapest’s Origo Studios (where Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is also being filmed) the crew is suitably universal (directors on the eight-episode show include USSR-born Alik Sakharov and Argentina’s Alex Garcia Lopez). After all, the theme is very much about overcoming differences, says Cavill. “You see Geralt navigating his way through these prejudices, and trying to heal them. And at the same time, also being a weapon of fiery wrath.” Flame on… James Mottram
THE WITCHER IS AVAILABLE ON NETFLIX FROM 20 DECEMBER.