Henry Cavill, best know to movie fans as Superman in Warner Bros.’ ongoing series of DC superhero movies that are going to be as good as you’re expecting any second now they promise, is a bit of a geek. When director Zach Snyder called to tell him he had landed the role of the Man of Steel, he almost didn’t answer because he was playing World of Warcraft (“I saw it was him [calling] but the thing is, you can’t save World of Warcraft, you can’t pause it. It’s live.”), and has been open about his love for Skyrim.
Unsurprisingly, he’s also played The Witcher 3, CD Projekt Red’s sprawling role-playing game about the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, a demon hunter (or “witcher,” naturally) who travels the land killing monsters, making wisecracks, and generally doing fantasy hero stuff. “I just replayed all the way through,” he told IGN at a press event for Mission: Impossible — Fallout. “Love that game. Really good game.”
The Witcher games are based on a series of books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, and Netflix is turning them into a new series to be released in 2020, at the earliest. Unsurprisingly, Cavill would be all over playing Geralt. “Absolutely. Yeah, that would be an amazing role…The books are amazing. The books are really, really good… The books I started reading, and they are well worth a read.”
Man, Cavill’s fandom runs pretty deep. Casting on The Witcher hasn’t begun yet, but Netflix could do a lot worse than Cavill, who’s a capable actor and a bankable star, although there could be scheduling issues if he and Warner Bros. extend his contract to play Superman into the foreseeable future. But come 2020, when Netflix is fighting for eyeballs against Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show, Disney’s Star Wars show and HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff, it’ll want all the leg up it can get. Viva the TV arms race!
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones or Succession for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels
h/t Flickering Myth