Photo credit: Albert L. Ortega - Getty Images

From Men's Health

Netflix revealed a full-length trailer for their upcoming fantasy series The Witcher at San Diego Comic Con, and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich said that 207 different actors were considered to play the lead role, Geralt of Rivia, before they finally settled on Man of Steel star Henry Cavill.

Hissrich added, however, that while plenty of other actors were in the frame at one time or another, she always pictured Cavill as Geralt. She said that he made such a strong first impression that his voice stayed with her as she was crafting her vision for the series and the character's story arc. Unfortunately, Hissrich didn't disclose who any of those other 207 actors were.

Cavill himself has confessed that, as a fan of the fantasy books and video games on which the series is based, he was determined to land the gig. "When I heard they were making The Witcher, I obviously was incredibly excited, and I annoyed the living daylights out of my agents," Cavill told Entertainment Tonight. "I called them every day and said, 'Guys, now? Meeting now? How 'bout now?' And they eventually said, 'Look, they've brought on a showrunner, and we've called them, and they said, 'Look, we're not even close to that process yet,'' and I kept on pushing, pushing, pushing, and eventually I think Netflix just got tired."

The first season of The Witcher, adapted from the popular books by Andrzej Zapkowski, won't feature a villain in the traditional sense, Hissrich said. While the titular witcher is a monster hunter, the trailer tagline suggests that "the worst monsters are the ones we create."

"There isn’t really a villain," Hissrich explained said. "One of the things we’re enjoying exploring is all the shades of grey in the books. The characters you’re rooting for in the beginning may not be the characters you’re rooting for in the end. And characters you hate and seem absolutely evil are motivated by something that’s really relatable and human and emotional. I found writing it and then watching it afterward that your allegiance switches a lot. You constantly try to put yourself in the shoes of characters and think what would you do. I think you’ll end up having a lot of empathy for characters you didn’t expect to."

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