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Henry Cavill was a fan of the original books and video games long before he was cast as Geralt in The Witcher. He actively pursued the role in the Netflix series and was initially turned down because showrunner Lauren Hissrich found his insistence "really annoying." However, Cavill finally landed the part because he was the perfect Geralt.
Henry Cavill is heavily involved in the creative aspects of the show and his character. He pushed for the show's portrayal of Geralt to be honest to the books, rather than being too one-dimensional. He also rewrote the scene in which his horse Roach dies in order to make it more heartfelt.
Henry Cavill has been praised for his action sequences in the show. The actor underwent extensive training and exercise in order to nail his stunts. He even revealed that he kept three swords at home and four at work, so he would always have a sword in his hand for maximum familiarity with the weapon.
In order to prevent comparisons with the popular HBO fantasy series, there was originally a rule against casting Game of Thrones actors in The Witcher (which has since been broken). Author of The Witcher Andrzej Sapkowski also expressed his distaste for celebrity cameos, poking fun at Ed Sheeran's widely panned appearance in Game of Thrones.
Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra did not use body doubles for their scenes in The Witcher. Both actors performed their own stunts, and Chalotra performed her nude scenes herself, despite her initial apprehensions, as she believed it was a part of her character's journey.
Actor and musician Joey Batey, who plays the bard Jaskier, can in fact play the lute in real life. He learned to play the instrument years before he was cast in The Witcher. However, he has admitted to becoming tired of his character's viral song “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher”.
Elder Speech, the language used by the elves in The Witcher, was specifically created by Andrzej Sapkowski for the show. It is based on a number of real languages, including French, Irish, Latin and Welsh. A linguist was also brought on board to help with the dialogues.