Henry Cavill To Topline ‘The Witcher’ Netflix TV Series Based On Fantasy Books
Man of Steel star Henry Cavill is returning to television as the lead Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, Netflix’s drama series based on the fantasy saga of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
The Witcher is an epic tale of fate and family. Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), 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.
Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s The Defenders, Umbrella Academy) serves as writer, executive producer and showrunner of the series, which was announced last year.
“He was my first meeting,” Hissrich said on Twitter of Cavill, a massive fan of Sapkowski’s series of fantasy short stories and novels about the witcher Geralt of Rivia. “I didn’t have writers or scripts yet – just a greenlight and a lot of passion. That was four months ago, and I’ve never forgotten the passion he brought. He IS Geralt. He always has been. I’m so thrilled to welcome HENRY CAVILL to the Witcher family.”
Set as directors of the series are Alik Sakharov (House of Cards, Game of Thrones), who will helm a total of four episodes, including the first one, and also will serve as executive producer. Alex Garcia Lopez (Marvel’s Luke Cage, Fear The Walking Dead) and Charlotte Brändström (Outlander, Counterpart) will direct two episodes each.
Sapkowski will serve as creative consultant on the series. Sean Daniel, Jason Brown and Kathy Lingg at Hivemind Entertainment are exec producers along with The Fallen’s Tomek Baginski and Jarek Sawko from Polish production and VFX house Platige Image.
Known collectively as the Witcher Saga, Sapkowski’s eight novels and story collections center on “witchers” – hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly monsters. The books have been translated into more than 20 languages and have since spawned a major video game franchise.
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Cavill currently stars opposite Tom Cruise in the hit Mission Impossible – Fallout which has earned over $649 million worldwide.
This marks a return to television for Cavill, for whom one of the first big roles was on the Showtime series The Tudors. He has since been focused on features and is probably best known for his role of Clark Kent / Superman, in Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.
Cavill next stars in Nomis alongside Ben Kingsley and Stanley Tucci. He is repped by WME, The Garcia Company and Gang, Tyre, Ramer and Brown.
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