The new trailer for Netflix’s upcoming fantasy series The Witcher continues to feast our eyes and Henry Cavill continues to slay monsters and foes like a boss.
The official trailer for The Witcher is wickedly good as the late December premiere date draws near. From what we know already, the TV show will be based on the nine book fantasy series by author Andrzej Sapkowski and loosley based on the video game series. The third video game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was garnered video game of the year back in 2015.
In our previous FIB article, the teaser trailer that was discussed pointed out the show’s primary focus on the literature than the video games. This is a very interesting focal point to draw upon because it will be great to see how it will be introduced in this 8 episode debut.
With the new trailer depicting Geralt’s witcher abilities, we see him get further pulled into the social and political sphere of the fantasy world known as The Continent.
Additional depictions of Geralt’s abilities is seen in the trailer and it’s got fans on Twitter excited for Henry Cavill’s performance.
The new Witcher trailer looks better than I expected. Henry Caville has done well matching Gerald's voice actor. I'm stoked #witcher
— Grizz|y (@The7th___) November 3, 2019
When they first cast Henry Cavill as Geralt in Netflix's Witcher series, I was like "eh?! ??"
But actually I take it back.
From the latest trailer, it looks like he's nailed the character – the voice, the swagger.
Can't wait for December 20th!— Karl ? (@Kster91) October 31, 2019
Fans will not be disappointed about Cavill’s performance as Geralt as the new trailer provides additional stunning details. We hear more of Cavill’s Geralt voice and it sounds amazing and uncannily like Doug Cockle from the video games.
Cavill’s swordplay is impeccably swift, consisting of spins and turns that effectively dispatches his opponents. We do see more witcher magic, showing Geralt casting the Aard spell (a telekenetic blast) that thwarts his opponents aside, and more close ups on the creepy dilated eyes which could be his intoxication from witcher potions that aid him in battle or the ‘witcher sense’ (a sort of sixth sense that helps Geralt track down monsters and clues that would aid his investigations).
The show’s plot will focus on the books’ theme of family and destiny
The trailer continues to hint that it is Geralt’s destiny to protect Ciri (Freya Allan) and what we’ve seen so far is the hero encountering different kinds of danger. We see more scenes Geralt has with potential love interest Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) and the expected partnership that they will embark to rescue Ciri.
Actress Freya Allan gives her thoughts to comicbook.com about her interpretations of Ciri
“Ciri is the princess of Cintra. She is very feisty and stubborn but also has been protected her whole life, and always been surrounded by the same people, same environment; so she’s very innocent, naïve. Hasn’t experienced the real world at all. Her idea of the real world is going out into the streets, disguising herself as one of the boys, and playing on the street. And really hasn’t seen how brutal the world truly can be. That’s what she experiences.”
According to Rolling Stone, showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich remarked, “What’s great about The Witcher is that it’s so much more than a fantasy. Really it’s a story about a family. I would call it an addition to the books. We honour the books but we got to give the characters a little more breathing room.”
In an interview with Variety, Hissrich gives further details to the notion of family and how it is integral in the first season:
“For me the overall theme of the books, as I read them, was really about this broken family at the center of it, which is Geralt of Rivia, Ciri and Yennefer. They are tied together by destiny; they are all orphans in the world, kind of loners. None of them feel they quite belong. Certainly none of them feel they need anyone else to survive.”
And judging by the main trailer, the show seems to go beyond the expected textures of the novels’ depiction of sex, violence and magic. Clearly, Hissrich’s vision aims to show the vulnerabilities from all three main characters, Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri unfold.
It has also been recently reported that Hissrich has planned seven seasons for the show if it becomes successful.
“I’ve [mapped out stories] for seven seasons. Right now it’s just about, ‘how do you set up stories that really capture audiences for years at a time?’ The worst thing we could do is put all of our energies just into season one, and not be thinking about where these characters can grow to.”
According to comicbook.com, Hissrich teased that some characters may not make it out alive in the first season. In hoping to tickle fans of Game of Thrones, Hissrich is pointing out there will be plenty of drama and perhaps even some tears shed before the first season wraps. Hopefully viewers will be treated to a more expanded version on their Netflix screens than the books and video games combined.
The new trailer did cheekily show Geralt bathing in a bath tub but did not show Geralt playing the infamously addictive Gwent card game that features in The Witcher 3. I can only say fans will be hoping to see Geralt say, “let’s lay ’em down.”
The Witcher is expected to premiere on Netflix globally on the 20th of December.
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