Deaf to the protestations of certain Escapist editors, Netflix has released new images of its upcoming adaptation of The Witcher, and Geralt has it going on now.
The official Netflix U.S. Twitter account revealed a promotional poster for the series, which depicts the back of star Henry Cavill’s wigged head, a vague tagline, and a sharp logo. The promotional blurb for the series is, “The worst monsters are the ones we create.” It has that punchy “man is the real monster” cynicism that the game and books like to trade in, even if it’s not technically accurate to the lore. (The monsters in The Witcher series were not created, but teleported into the human world by a fluke of interdimensional space magic, if that’s the sort of thing that keeps you up at night.)
The series’s logo depicts a wolf, a swallow, and an inverted star held in a tidy compositional balance. This presumably symbolizes the complex relationships among main character Geralt of Rivia, of the Wolf School of Witchers; Ciri, the magical princess and Witcher-in-training whom Geralt raises like a daughter; and Yennefer of Vengerberg, the ambitious, politicking sorceress and primary love interest for Geralt.
Speaking of the series’s main trio, Netflix also revealed several promotional images of its leads in full costume. Henry Cavill’s Geralt was first revealed in October of last year, and he immediately received a volley of ridicule for his Halloween costume-tier wig. In the months since, though, Netflix has apparently hired a fleet of highly skilled wig engineers, because the new images look great. A shot Cavill posted to his Instagram account looks particularly rugged and natural in the follicle department. Netflix’s take on Ciri, played by relative newcomer Freya Allan, is making her first public appearance, and she looks appropriately elfin and regal. Yennefer will be played by Anya Chalotra, of Netflix’s Wanderlust and YouTube Originals’s futuristic Robin Hood riff Sherwood. In the newly revealed images she’s decked out in the character’s signature monochromatic fine silks and furs, and in a nice touch, she is clutching a dagger in one hand, presumably for stabbing backs.
Get your first look at Geralt (Henry Cavill), Yennefer (Anya Cholatra), and Ciri (Freya Allan) in #TheWitcher pic.twitter.com/2l0R2vgBZt
— See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) July 1, 2019
Although Netflix’s The Witcher is not strictly speaking an adaptation of CD Projekt Red’s game series, it’s certainly taking a fair amount of visual inspiration from it. A few important details are still missing, however. Geralt’s mutation-induced yellow cat eyes are nowhere to be seen, an interesting oversight since Chalotra’s Yennefer will evidently have source material-accurate purple irises. Perhaps the cat eyes looked silly on camera, or they were a bridge too far for Cavill after being saddled already with his voluminous wig. Geralt also only carries one sword on his back in the promotional images, instead of the Witcher-standard two, silver for monsters and steel for humans. In Andrzej Sapkowski’s original books, Geralt keeps one of his swords on his horse, Roach, so perhaps Netflix is taking that approach. Speaking of Roach — where’s Roach? I want to see the horse, Netflix.
The team behind The Witcher is currently gearing up for an appearance at San Diego Comic Con, where it’s expected a concrete release date for the show will be announced. Shooting on the show’s first season has already wrapped, and it’s expected that it will drop towards the end of this year. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comes to the Switch later this year.
