When Henry Cavill was first cast as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher, fans were overjoyed – knowing that such a massive nerd who was a huge fan of both the games and the books would be inhabiting the character. But there’s another way in which Cavill is both massive and huge – he’s absolutely ripped. And this caused problems for the costume department.
When The Witcher season 1 was released way back in the ‘before-times’ of 2019, costume designer Tim Aslam told Polygon that during shooting, Cavill’s muscles wore down the leather at such an alarming rate that replacements were constantly produced to meet the production’s needs.
“We had to make sure we could have something [costumes] that stayed true to the books but was also very practical,” showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said. “We have something that books and video games don’t have – actual actors who have to wear these things and perform in them on a daily basis.”
Cavill took the lived-in practicality of his costume to the next level; Hissrich even caught her star making breakfast and occasionally sleeping in his armor to imbue the costume with a sense of bespoke history.
Of course, the costumes weren’t the only thing that needed to be authentic – the weapons and the fights needed to be impressive too. We spoke to stunt coordinator Wolfgang Stegemann and armorer Nick Jefferies ahead of season 3.
Unfortunately, The Witcher season 3 volume 2 is the last time we’ll be seeing Henry Cavill in the role he was seemingly born to play, as he’s leaving the show. From season 4 onwards, Geralt will be played by Liam Hemsworth, but if the fantasy series follows the trajectory of the books – Ciri (Freya Allan) will become the main character anyway.
To find out more about The Witcher season 3, check out our guides to Aretuza and Redania.