The Witcher cast have opened up about Henry Cavill’s last days as Geralt, describing how he “powered his way” through his final scenes.
The arrival of The Witcher Season 3 on Netflix is bittersweet for the fans. Though we’re getting a whole new batch of episodes inspired by Andrzej Sapkowski’s Time of Contempt, it’s also Henry Cavill’s swan song as Geralt of Rivia.
However, if you’re worried the Superman star phoned it in for Season 3, don’t fret. Cavill knows what he’s doing, and he brings just as much charisma as the white-haired monster slayer as he did in the first two chapters.
This was confirmed by the cast of the series, who said he “powered his way” through his final scenes of The Witcher.
Stars of The Witcher describe filming final scenes with Henry Cavill
In an exclusive interview with Dexerto ahead of the release of Season 3, Joey Batey, who plays the legendary bard Jaskier, explained: “I was there on Henry’s last day and watched him power his way through a fight scene.
“I think he had a cold at the time actually; I think he was quite unwell, and yet just threw himself into his final days and hours as the day got longer and longer and longer, and [there was] not a single drop in his energy and his commitment.
“It’s all you can ask for from someone of his caliber. It was special, it felt very Geralt-like. He was determined to do his best in those final days, and that’s a lasting memory for me.”
Graham McTavish – who returns as the devious Dijkstra in The Witcher’s third outing – told Dexerto that Cavill is “safe” to work with, which comes in handy when filming the fight scenes.
“Henry’s done a lot of fighting. I’ve done quite a bit of fighting, but he’s great… he was very safe,” McTavish explained.
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“And that is not something you can say about everybody that I’ve done fight scenes with. There are some people who just, a red mist goes over them and you’re actually genuinely defending yourself.”
As for Cassie Clare, who portrays Dijkstra’s partner in crime Philippa, she recalled: “One of my favorite times with Captain Cavill, as I was calling him… We had this lovely scene together, which Dijkstra comes to join, at the ball.
“And what I loved the most was, well, we had lots of giggles and lots of laughs – he’s such a lovely person. And we got to speak all about our characters and what we wanted from this scene and what we were saying underneath the things that we were saying out loud. And I really, really enjoyed that. It was lovely.”
Another of The Witcher’s leads, Ciri star Freya Allan, explained that they didn’t find out about Cavill’s departure from the show until after they’d finished shooting Season 3.
“We found out quite a few months after we wrapped,” she explained. “So during shooting Season 3, we were all just very focused on doing what we do every year, which is work our a*ses off.
“You all do as a team, and now we’re just enjoying, celebrating together this season that we have all really worked hard on producing.”
The Witcher Season 3 Part 1 drops on Netflix on June 29, while Part 2 arrives on July 27. You can read more about the show here, and check out some of our other Netflix coverage below:
The Night Agent Season 2 | The Gentlemen | Sex Education Season 4 | Beef Season 2 | Monster Season 2 | Will there be Ginny and Georgia Season 3? | All the Light We Cannot See | Stranger Things Season 5 | The Witcher Season 3 | Chicken Run 2 | Heartstopper Season 2 | Florida Man Season 2 | Obsession Season 2 | The Sandman Season 2