British actor Henry Cavill portrayed the character of Geralt of Rivia for Netflix’s fantasy show The Witcher from 2019 to 2023. Created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, the show is based on a book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. The story explores the legend of Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Princess Ciri.

Upon the release of the show, it received a positive response from the audience and the critics with some hiccups during the second and third seasons. Cavill’s performance as Geralt of Rivia was highly lauded by the audience and critics with them mentioning that he brings brawny charisma to the series as well as the character. The actor had a very specific reason to play the character on-screen.

Henry Cavill explains staying true to the lore with Geralt of Rivia was ‘important’

Actor Henry Cavill, who is widely regarded for his portrayal of Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher, mentioned during an interview with GQ that staying true to the lore of the character was important to him. He mentioned,

“I want to do it as true to the lore as possible. For me, it was about bringing my love for the character to the show, as a fan—I want to protect it. It would’ve hurt my heart to hear there was a show I didn’t jump on, especially if someone else had a unique and perhaps even brilliant interpretation of Geralt, but one not who I, as a fan sees.”

The actor noted that he understands that the character is based on a fleshed-out character. Geralt of Rivia has mutant abilities, pristine white hair, and cat-like eyes, and Cavill pushed more and more for the character’s magic spells attribute to be used as much as possible on the show. He added,

“I really wanted to push that in there because for me, the audience must know he can do these things. It mattered to me because it’s all part of being a Witcher.”

In his interview with Polygon, the actor had explained that he had been a fan of the character long before he was offered to play the part on the show adding that he had felt a connection to his character, just with who he is and his nature.

The actor mentioned that he had not only read the books but also played the games, and he wanted to bring the version of him that was a version of Geralt into Lauren’s show.

Henry Cavill took no shortcuts in portraying Geralt of Rivia

Director Marc Jobst, who directed two episodes of The Witcher’s season one had shared during a conversation with ScreenRant about how the Superman actor never took a shortcut in portraying the character. He said,

“Henry has done three series, these are demanding shows to make, you know they are huge. Henry does every single beat of his stunts, he won’t allow a hand. If you’re doing a close-up of a hand grabbing a sword, it has to be his hand.”

The director explained that normally they’d bring in a double and the actor would go off and film some other scene and they would get someone else’s hand for a scene to keep the cameras rolling without bothering the lead. But it was different with Cavill, as he noted

“Henry won’t do that, and as a result of that, the results are extraordinary. You’re working with an incredible athlete, first and foremost, who works out hours before and hours after, you’ve been shooting for 12 hours and who cares deeply about the work that he does.”

Henry Cavill, in October 2022, announced on his social media that he would be laying down his medallion and sword of Geralt of Rivia for Season 4. He added that actor Liam Hemsworth would be taking over the role for the upcoming season.

The Witcher is streaming on Netflix.