The Witcher‘s long-awaited second season has been a Netflix highlight over the holiday season. It’s been two long years since we last saw Henry Cavill’s step into Geralt of Rivia’s boots, but the new episodes were well worth the wait, substantially moved the story forward in the process.
The show clocked up an impressive 142 million viewing hours over its first three days of release, and plans are afoot for four more seasons wrapping up Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer’s story. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich has indicated that they want to adapt every original Andrzej Sapkowski story, and that the streaming service couldn’t be happier with the show’s performance so far.
Judging by everything we’ve heard from behind the scenes, a big part of that success is down to star Henry Cavill. He’s stated on many occasions how much he enjoys playing Geralt, and in an interview with Looper, cinematographer Romain Lacourbas revealed what he contributes off-camera:
“He’s extremely collaborative — him, Lauren and possibly a couple of other producers. Henry’s one of the people who knows the books the best, as well as all the scripts the best. It’s really amazing how much he knows — all the lines of all characters. It’s really amazing. He’s really collaborative. He would sometimes come to discuss an idea or to suggest an idea, but he would never push for it. If he came to talk about a shot and asked for a reason why the camera was [in a particular spot], it was really rare. It would always be for the purpose of the story. He was extremely generous and extremely professional.”
Cavill also ensures that there are good vibes on the set, making the show a pleasure to work on:
“Of course, that happens, although it was not a tense set or anything. Believe me, the general ambience was really nice. Of course, there are some jokes sometimes. He is cracking jokes from time to time, and there is a time for that, as always, on the set. But most of the time, it’s about, for him and for all the other actors, to tell you the truth, it’s about being focused. But yeah, there was a very good atmosphere.”
We’re possibly facing a similar two-year wait for Season 3, though prequel show The Witcher: Blood Origin is expected to air in 2022, and will fill the gap with an explanation of how The Witcher‘s world ended up in this state. But after Season 2, I’m really hoping we can see the show back as soon as possible, because they’re on a real winning streak.
The Witcher‘s second season is now available on Netflix.
