While Henry Cavill is the star driving Netflix’s The Witcher, his role was substantially reduced in comparison to the first season, but how does his brooding Geralt of Rivia fare this time around?
Henry Cavill grows into his Geralt persona a lot more
While the first season definitely had more of Henry Cavill’s Geralt with trademark dialogue of going “Hmm”, this time around his screentime is less in comparison.
While we got to meet Geralt and what he does in the first season, we see him shine in the second season as Geralt finally finds a purpose which is to mentor and protect young Ciri and become the father/mentor figure she never had. With a purpose larger than him this time around, he seems more determined to make things happen. His action scenes also are pretty good. He fights the monsters in typical Geralt style which is pretty reminiscent of The Witcher games from CD projektred.
Why was his role reduced?
Henry Cavill’s Geralt of Rivia had less screentime this season due to the fact the showrunners had to give us an insight into Ciri. While in the first season she was just a princess waiting to be rescued, this time around she isn’t a lame sitting duck. She slowly gets to learn about her powers as Geralt mentors her and then in the second part of the series she learns about her magical powers from Yennefer.
While we get to learn more about Ciri, we also learn about another important aspect of the story. The other part of the story is the aftermath of the war we had seen at the end of the first season. Nilfgaurd is still reeling from the attack and plans more attacks while the elves also want to reclaim what has been lost. So between these two things, we lose a bit of Geralt, but his screen presence is such that the moments he is on make it worth it.
Henry Cavill on the changes to Geralt
Speaking about the creative process from season 2 of The Witcher, the Man of Steel actor reveals that he had fought hard to change an aspect of Geralt which he felt was integral to the character but had not translated that well into season 1, which was getting to know more about Geralt.
“This season, I really wanted to make sure that we represented the book’s Geralt more accurately, and that we saw him speak more. “I pushed really, really hard for that.” Does this mean he’s cheery? “I wouldn’t say cheery. He’s still Geralt of Rivia, but he’s definitely coming across as more of an intellectual.” (Sigh!) “It’s a hard life, monster hunting… I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Henry Cavill has loved playing Geralt Of Rivia, a fan of the games from CD PROJEKT RED, his passion for the project shows when he speaks about the project. The first season of the series was a huge hit and was immediately renewed for a second and third season. The second season of The Witcher is now streaming on Netflix.
