Henry Cavill owns a Game of Thrones chess set

Henry Cavill’s love for all things nerdy is a well-known fact; perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising for a guy who’s played Superman and Geralt of Rivia on The Witcher. Cavill has spoken pretty openly about his sword collection, how he built his own gaming PC, and more. In fact, it was this love for The Witcher video games and books that led to him landing the role of Geralt in Netflix’s show; he started lobbying for the part before the show was even casting.

But what’s the nerdiest thing that Henry Cavill has in his own personal collection?

In a recent interview with BBC Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb, Cavill confessed that he owns a Game of Thrones chess set, which is pretty nerdy, but it doesn’t take the cake. Instead, the title goes to his collection of Warhammer figures.

Henry Cavill was almost passed over for the The Witcher

Cavill also reminisced about landing the lead role in The Witcher. As it turns out, he was originally passed over for the part. “I got in the room with [showrunner] Lauren Hissirch, we had a meeting, and uh, I think a couple days afterward she said ‘Look, the role’s not for you,’ or ‘It’s not right.’ So then I was crushed,” the actor said.

"Then I resigned myself to that. I finished another playthrough of The Witcher. And then they said ‘Look, they’ve done casting, you don’t have to do this…but do you want to audition?’ I was like ‘No, absolutely, I do. This is Geralt of Rivia and I want to audition.’ Did a reading, and I think I was given the role later that day."

This matches up with what Hissrich has said in the past, how Cavill approached her about the role, she originally passed on him to audition others, but kept thinking of Cavill in her mind when she was imagining Geralt. I think we can all agree that this one turned out for the best!

Cavill discussed a bunch of other things about the production, including his favorite sword fight sequence (the Blaviken showdown in the series premiere), where he keeps his sword collection (the study, because if it’s too accessible people start swinging them around and breaking his stuff), the temptation of using famous lines from the Witcher games on the show (he hasn’t, because it’s “not cool” to steal lines that voice actor Doug Cockle made so iconic), and the borderline magical process of putting on the white wig for the show.

The actor even broke down some of his favorite fantasy book recommendations. “Anything by Raymond E. Feist, anything by David Gemmel, anything by Brandon Sanderson, and obviously Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time.”

As if fans needed any more reason to love this guy.

All in all, it was a great interview and totally worth the watch for any fan of The Witcher. Just don’t challenge Cavill to a chess match, because what could be scarier than a witcher wielding Westerosi dragons?

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