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Henry Cavill gets lead role in ‘The Witcher’ Netflix series

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Henry Cavill is no stranger to heroic roles, having become a household name for his appearances as Superman in the recent DC films, but soon he’ll play an entirely new kind of hero. Cavill has been picked to star as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher series, and we can’t wait to see him with gray hair and a beard.

Cavill made the announcement himself on his Instagram account, showing that he was signed into his Netflix account as “Geralt of Rivia.” He jokingly listed his new mailing address as being in Kaedwen, a city in the Polish book series.

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During an interview with IGN last month, Cavill revealed that he was interested in playing the character, and that he had just replayed The Witcher III from start to finish — a game that can take dozens or even hundreds of hours to complete.

Cavill is certainly trying to avoid being typecast, with his burly and gruff role in Mission: Impossible — Fallout feeling remarkably different from his Superman character.

The Witcher series’ author, Andrzej Sapkowski, has been releasing his books to critical acclaim since the ’90s, but the world and characters received significantly more international attention after they were adapted into video games. Polish studio CD Projekt Red most recently released The Witcher III, which has been called one of the best role-playing games of all time.

A few months ago, The Witcher television series writer Lauren S. Hissrich said that though production was moving along smoothly on the project, it would likely not air until 2020. The series will be eight episodes long.

Hissrich also shared some of the other characters we can expect to see in the show. These include Geralt’s lover Yennefer, the young prodigy Ciri, and the horse Roach, among many others.

Video game fans may have to wait a bit longer before getting to see The Witcher on television, but they can watch the return of Castlevania when it the second season hits Netflix in October. The animated series focuses on Trevor Belmont in his battle against Dracula, and it has received good reviews for its dark tone and faithful adaptation of the source material.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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