‘The Witcher’: How Henry Cavill rewrote a crucial scene in show's Season 2 to 'pitch-perfect' brilliance
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It seldom happens that the roles of actors in the production of a show or a film extend in significant ways beyond playing their assigned characters. But when they immerse themselves into their character and understand them on a level no one else can, they have been known to contribute crucial elements besides acting them out.
Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia in the popular Netflix series ‘The Witcher’, appears to fall into that category. Cavill didn’t just do a brilliant job of playing the protagonist but also wrote one of the important scenes of the second season.
Henry Cavill was 'unhappy' with the writing
It is no secret that Cavill is a big fan of both the book series ‘The Witcher’ by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and the role-playing video game that is based on it. While he has been known as a consistent advocate for the show staying as loyal to the books as possible, he also insisted on writing a scene differently than the source material.
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In a scene of the sixth episode of the second season titled ‘Dear Friend…’, Geralt loses a close friend - his loyal horse Roach. Originally, the writers didn’t intend to make the scene serious or even relevant as Geralt was just supposed to get another horse and give him the same name, as reported by Polygon. But Cavill suggested that they make the scene a lot more heartfelt. The creator of the show Lauren Schmidt Hissrich shared how “Henry was so unhappy with the line.”
Cavill’s heartfelt poetry for Roach's death scene
Hissrich suggested the actor could perhaps write the final scene himself. “Finally I said, ‘You know what, you come up with something. I trust you, you know this material so well, you know the book so well, you don’t even have to pitch it to me.’ And he came back the next day with a beautiful speech that’s at the end of Sword of Destiny when Geralt is facing death and it’s such a pitch-perfect moment,” he said.
What Cavill came up with was not just poetically beautiful. His words echoed the depths of his character along with the setting of the scene: “Enjoy your last walk across the meadow and through the mist. Be not afraid of her for she is your friend.”
That said, Cavill will not be joining the series for its fourth season due to creative differences with the writers.
The third season of ‘The Witcher’ will be available for streaming on Netflix on June 29, 2023.
