“I’ve heard tales of your kind, witcher…”
Netflix has finally dropped a full trailer for The Witcher, its new hotly-anticipated fantasy series that stars Henry Cavill as monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia — and which promises a Game of Thrones-like blend of drama, action, magic, monsters, and romance.
We’ll have more to say about this series on Friday, after having enjoyed an extensive conversation with showrunner Lauren Hissrich who gave us a deep dive into how the show got made, her approach, behind-the-scenes tidbits, and more. For now, though, suffice it to say the trailer definitely gives us an intriguing look at what’s to come with this show, one of several high-profile projects Netflix has teed up between now and the end of the year (with a Witcher release date set for December 20).
Check out the series’ first trailer above. Meantime, you can also enjoy some of our earlier coverage here about the series, which we and others have reported Cavill wanted to star in so badly that he essentially hounded his agent about getting the part until Netflix gave him a “yes.” Even more extraordinary, Cavil reportedly beat out more than 200 actors to land this role.
What you need to know:
- The series will be an adaptation of The Witcher books, not of the video game franchise.
- The 71-year-old author of the books, Andrzej Sapkowski, thinks the series will be able to easily stand up against (and possibly be better than) Game of Thrones.
- In public remarks, along those lines, Sapkowski has actually taken a jab at HBO, saying that he would be watching Netflix closely “to make sure that at NO point in the show (will) Ed Sheeran sing,” which is a reference to the singer’s Thrones cameo.
- Again, it will debut on Netflix on December 20.
- Hissrich actually said no to the project at first when she was initially offered it. Once she began thinking through the kind of adaptation of the books that she would want to see, she began to imagine this being a show she could actually make, at which point she pressed ahead.
