Netflix to conjure The Witcher starring Henry Cavill for a Fall release

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The Witcher, Henry Cavill, Netflix

While his Superman is off enjoying some much needed downtime, probably soaking his steel bones in the Fortress of Solitude's Paradise Pool, JUSTICE LEAGUE actor Henry Cavill is awaiting the launch of Netflix's THE WITCHER. Built as an eight-episode adaptation of the fantasy series from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, the upcoming adventure revolves around the happenings of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who tracks and vanquishes nightmare creatures from Slavic lore. Sapkowski's novels were also the inspiration for a video game series based on the property, with the latest entry being the award-winning action RPG The Witcher: Wild Hunt.

Recently during an earnings call, Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos gave an update on the series as a part of the streaming service's Q4 line-up.

“Well, definitely in the third quarter, we’ve got new episodes and new seasons of some of our most loved and most watched shows on Netflix, ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Casa de Papel,’ ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ ’13 Reasons Why,’ ‘Elite,’ which was a big hit for us right out of Spain, a new season from Ryan Murphy of ‘The Politician,’ a brand new show on Netflix that we think our audiences are going to love,” he said. “And then you start seeing later in the fourth quarter some of our bigger film investments coming through like ‘Irishman,’ like ‘6 Underground’ and also a big new original series that we’re currently shooting in Hungary called ‘The Witcher,’ that is an enormous European IP, very popular game and Book IP, that we think is going to make a really fun global series.”

Back in December it was announced that Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who previously wrote and co-executive produced Marvel's THE DEFENDERS and DAREDEVIL for Netflix, will be executive producing the Cavill's upcoming supernatural drama. Since that time, Hissrich has been hard at work putting the pieces of THE WITCHER together for all involved. On Wednesday, she reported via Twitter that she and her team are quite busy at the moment, and that she's only had to do two revisions of the script for the pilot episode. While this doesn't sound like much, I think it speaks to Hissrich's confidence in the project, as well the quality of writing going on behind the scenes. Here's hoping that it all comes together to create an engaging representation of The Witcher franchise.

When THE WITCHER arrives on Netflix sometime between October and December of 2019, the fantasy action series will star Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Freya Allan as Ciri,and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, among others.

Source: Variety

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.