Cavill spoke to us ahead of new season of 'The Witcher'
Henry Cavill is an avowed gamer, with the 'The Witcher' and 'Man Of Steel' star often discussing his love for video games, and ahead of the new season of 'The Witcher' on Netflix, he shared a bit more of his love for the games.
"I attempted to replay 'The Witcher' on Death March mode, which is the hardest difficulty, and it took me 3 goes to get past the ghouls at the beginning of the game", he revealed.
"I have played through the games on Death March before and even got a good chunk of the way through the games on that difficulty, but on my most recent playthrough I found it so stressful!"
"When I play the games, I want to relax," he added.
Cavill says owing to his busy work schedule any time he gets to play video games now is purely for relaxation reasons.
"When I play 'The Witcher' I want my experience to be relaxed but adrenaline-fueled, and I don't want to throw my keyboard across the room every time I die and realising I've been wandering through the wilderness for 6 hours."
Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia in the hit Netflix series says he hasn't yet finished the downloadable content released for 'The Witcher 3'.
"I have played through the first expansion (Hearts of Stone) but I haven't found the time to play through Blood and Wine, so maybe I'll get the chance to play it with my nephews over Christmas."
Cavill said he wanted his portrayal of Geralt to be closer to the books and requested some changes be made to the character for season 2.
"In season 1 Geralt was this grumpy almost Shrek-like character, but for season 2 I wanted him to come across like book Geralt, which is a 3-dimensional, emotional character."
"As much as he hides it from certain people I really wanted to express it with people he cares about. I wanted to change his diction, so he actually sounded more intelligent as opposed to the F-word or a "hmm."
Cavill said he would often think of new ways to deliver his dialogue while in the make-up chair for Geralt.
"I'd adjust the dialogue while I was sitting in the chair and a bit more of an intellectual bent to my delivery."
"For me, it was campaigning to have as much as that come across as possible in the show as much as the plotline and vision would allow."
When asked what game in 'The Witcher' series would make for the best season of television, Cavill's answer was emphatic.
"If I were to do an adaptation, it would be an adaptation in the same way CD Projekt Red did 'The Witcher 3'.
"There are similar characters and the same world, and a known history from the books."
"The first and second games are more straightforward adaptations of the books while 3 felt like a continuation of the story that they (CD Projekt Red) had created."
"There's something fun in that because the show is already drawing from the books and excavating them," he added.
For season 2 of the show, Geralt becomes something of a father figure to Ciri, and Cavill said that plotline is one of the main driving plotlines of the season.
"It's still possible to tow that line between fraternal and paternal, and with the way Ciri is written in the show it's a more modernised version of how she's written in the books."
"Her trauma comes through via frustration and antagonism, and for Geralt not to respond to that allows him to come across as a father figure."
Cavill added that he lobbied to make sure that Geralt wasn't squabbling with Ciri and for Geralt to come across as "someone who was 70 years old, had seen the world and knew how to deal with moments of frustration."
"He's dealing with someone who has gone through some serious trauma and he's understanding of that. That was the best way I felt to get that paternal relationship across as opposed to fraternal."
In speaking to Cavill, his passion for the character shone through.
Cavill effortlessly recalled plotlines from the books, discussed his character motivations and it was apparent that the star feels a deep connection and sense of ownership with the character of Geralt.
From the preview episodes provided to us by Netflix, Cavill has settled into the role of Geralt with great aplomb, and fans of the show will have plenty to sink their teeth into over Christmas.