Henry Cavill bids a fond farewell to his Witcher co-stars
By Daniel Roman
We’re less than two weeks out from the premiere of The Witcher season 3 on Netflix. The streamer held its Tudum event this past weekend, where we got reveals for upcoming shows like One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big casting announcement for Stranger Things 5, and even a first look at Game of Thrones creators Dan Weiss and David Benioff’s new show 3 Body Problem.
We also got a brand new clip from the premiere episode of The Witcher season 3, and heard from Geralt of Rivia actor Henry Cavill for the first time since it was announced that he would be leaving the series. Let’s start with the clip:
Geralt, Yen, and Ciri battle forces from across the Continent at Shaerrawedd
This teaser clip shows part of a battle at the Elven ruin of Shaerrawedd. This is a pretty big set piece from Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel Blood of Elves which didn’t make the cut for season 2, but it will kick off season 3.
That said, it goes down a bit differently than it does in Sapkowski’s book, as in this version Yennefer is present. The nefarious mage Rience (played by Sam Woolf in season 3) leads an attempts to kidnap Ciri. Elven guerilla fighters called the Scoia’tael are also trying to abduct her. Dwarves come to the air of Geralt, Yen and Ciri. It’s a chaotic affair.
Cavill and his co-stars Freya Allan (Ciri), Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Joey Batey (Jaskier) introduced this clip at Tudum. But of course there was only one thing on most people’s mind: Cavill’s departure from the series after season 3; he will be replaced by The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth in season 4. At Batey’s insistence, Cavill finally broke his silence on the matter.
Henry Cavill gives emotional farewell to Witcher co-stars
“Goodness me, thank you very much, everyone. I really feel the love, and I love you guys, too. It’s so wonderful to be here. But I’m going to talk about what it was like filming my final season,” Cavill said. “And I actually just want to talk about my co-stars here. Because, once again, it was such a pleasure and an honor to be working with you guys.”
"You guys bring so much nuance and detail to these characters which are often at risk of being oversimplified, and what you guys have done with the characters has involved work, care, and effort. And, believe me, working with you guys was the biggest pleasure. So, uh, I just wanted to say I’m going to miss you. I’m going to miss you very much."
The emotion on stage was clear to see; these actors have all invested years of their lives into The Witcher, and Cavill’s departure isn’t something any of them is taking lightly. Chalotra previously spoke about how she “shed a tear” at the prospect of Cavill leaving the show, and it looked like a few more were almost shed by everyone at Tudum. It’s the end of a chapter for The Witcher.
The Witcher season 3 volume 1 will consist of five episodes, and hits Netflix on June 29. Volume 2, which contains the final three episodes of the season, will follow on July 27.
Next. The Witcher season 3 volume 1 episode titles revealed. dark
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