Henry Cavill Explains How Fatherhood Changes His Character In The Witcher Season 2

Henry Cavill says The Witcher season two will focus a lot on fatherhood and how that changes Geralt.

By Faith McKay | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

henry cavill

It might be a stretch sometimes to call Ciri on The Witcher the adopted daughter of Geralt, but often, she is just that. While we’ve seen some of the character’s protective side in the past, Henry Cavill says that parenting and protecting Ciri in The Witcher season 2 is going to change his character immensely. This means audiences will get to see a lot more sides to Geralt in the coming season. In Cavill’s estimation, his character was “a bit of a grumpy, dark, mysterious hero” in season one of the series. In the second season, Ciri is going to help “bring [out] more of that intellectual, philosophical, wise Geralt”.

“He’s got this deep down White Knight Syndrome, even though every time he acts upon it, it gets him into some serious trouble — and puts him and everyone else in a worse position than initially intended,” Henry Cavill tells Entertainment Weekly. “But with Ciri, she’s definitely bringing out the paternal side of Geralt. While he hasn’t necessarily been someone who craved children, he does take quite naturally to being a protector.”

Recently, Netflix released the anime movie The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. While Henry Cavill isn’t in that story, the movie does set up his mentor, Vesemir. The film tells the story of Vesemir’s youth. In season two, we’ll get to know him better as an adult, and as Geralt’s father figure. We’ll also see more of the School of the Wolf, where Vesemir attended school, when Geralt brings her there. That school was better explored in The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Clearly, in both season one of the original series and in the new anime film, the writers are building up toward big changes with the fatherhood theme in season two of the series.

witcher season 2 ciri

Season two of The Witcher hasn’t been without hiccups. Filming was delayed when Henry Cavill has to recover from an injury. His recovery routine for that was intense, and continued into his twelve-hour days of filming the series. The actor is doing his best to be worthy of the hefty salary Netflix is paying him. The star has indicated that he’s looking forward to playing Geralt as long as he can, and has backed that up by showing dedication to the project.

Outside of The Witcher, Henry Cavill has a full schedule. Earlier this year, we exclusively reported that the star had signed on for The Rosie Project, a new romantic film adapted from a best-selling novel of the same name. Deadline has since confirmed our report and it’s public knowledge that the star is lined up for the project. He’s also signed on for a Highlander reboot, though little is known about the project at this point. Enola Holmes 2 is another Netflix project the star has lined up, and it’s expected he’ll take on more with the streaming service in the coming years. It’s hard to believe that he has enough time to continue to lead The Witcher, but he is managing to juggle the many upcoming projects he wants to work on so far.

Netflix doesn’t always reveal their numbers, but they do when they are especially good. The Witcher had some of the highest viewer ratings one of their projects has had so far. That kind of information means a lot more Witcher projects, starring Henry Cavill or not, are likely in the streaming service’s future. They’re already moving forward with The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel said long before the days Geralt or even Vesemir lived. As Henry Cavill’s Geralt and Ciri bond over season two of the series, it will be interesting to see where the show goes, and what future spinoffs the series may be setting up.