Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher franchise has arguably been the best thing to happen to fantasy fiction since Game of Thrones, spawning over a dozen acclaimed novels that have since been adapted into a trilogy of smash hit video games and – most recently – a popular Netflix Original series starring Henry Cavill.
With the show’s second season returning to production after its 5-month hiatus in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the star behind Geralt of Rivia has now shared a rare behind-the-scenes photo on Instagram. In the pic, Cavill can be seen in the makeup room bloodied and bruised, attempting to take a mirror selfie with one eye shut as a result of an intense battle with some mythical being of immense power (we can only hope).
The two makeup and hair artists attending to Cavill are Jacqueline Rathore and Ailbhe Lemass, perhaps best known for their work on Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and Edge of Tomorrow, respectively. Both women are industry veterans with over a decade’s worth of experience working on major motion pictures and TV shows, including The Witcher’s first season, which came out last year. They even have experience working with Henry Cavill directly, as they shared the roles of key hairstylists on Mission Impossible: Fallout, in which Lemass also served as key makeup artist and Cavill played the double-crossing secret agent August Walker.
Whatever the scene this power-trio is preparing to depict may be, it seems poised to ramp up the intensity of Geralt’s adventure and probably includes a good old action set piece to boot. It’s just a shame we’ll probably have to wait a while to see it, as The Witcher season 2 currently has no release date.