The Witcher adaptation on Netflix arrives later this month, promising to bring monster slaying, dark fantasy and warriors with excellent hair to this festive period. Right now, Netflix is building anticipation for the series with a few character spotlight videos, that throw in some new footage for good measure. The above focuses on Geralt of Rivia, the show's main character, played by Henry Cavill.
As Cavill himself explains, Witchers are monster hunters who are hated by pretty much everyone. You then get some nice shots of Geralt looking moody in a pub, fighting monsters, and a sample of his magic abilities. You'll see he uses a kind of Force push move to knock an enemy down. Fans of The Witcher games might be familiar with that one: it's the Sign (The Witcher's version of spells) known as Aard, one of a Witcher's powers.
There's also a hint that there's much more in store for Geralt than his life of hunting monsters, even though he's not much of a believer in destiny.
That wasn't the only video Netflix released spotlighting specific characters in the show. There's one for Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), a supporting character with a bit of a sad background who wields powerful magic. This video explains her background and motivations:
And finally, we take a look at Ciri (Freya Allan), a hugely important character to the Witcher canon. She's a princess living a very sheltered life up to the point where we meet her in the series, but that's about to change for good as she experiences the murder of her family. Her and Geralt's stories will coalesce as she makes her escape.
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Netflix's next big hope
The Witcher lands on Netflix on December 20. It's the first big-budget dark fantasy series to launch since the end of Game of Thrones, and the combination of big star and popular source material give it a good shot at being everyone's next pop culture obsession.
Or, maybe everyone will decide the wig looks too silly and fantasy TV had its shot with Game of Thrones (and ultimately blew it). It won't be long until we find out, either way.
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