NetflixNetflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of The Witcher will star Henry Cavill as the grizzled monster hunter for hire Geralt of Rivia, a man with a troubled and heavy childhood.
Just how much the show plans to dive into Geralt’s early days remains to be seen, but eagle-eyed fans have spotted that the eighth and final episode of the series will feature a younger version of the character in some capacity.
NetflixIn his first and only credit (so far), young actor Tristan Ruggeri was spotted on IMDB as “Young Geralt” by the fan site Redanian Intelligence, suggesting that episode eight of The Witcher will offer at least one or two flashbacks to Geralt’s formative years.
Becoming a Witcher isn’t exactly a picnic, as you’ll probably be aware. Unlike the X-Men, mutants who are born with powers and are trained at a special school, Witchers are made through a series of intense trials and potions that literally force physical mutations.
Most of the children who undergo these trials don’t survive – seven in ten of the kids subjected, in fact. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the kids that don’t make it don’t simply die right away. That would be too kind. Instead, they’re slowly poisoned over the course of a few days, writhing in agony until they finally bite the dust.
NetflixThose who do make it through, such as Geralt, are then subjected to rigorous – some would say cruel – training regimes to prepare them for a life of hunting monsters. Hogwarts this ain’t.
The season finale seems like the perfect time to shed more light on Geralt’s past, and establishing just how downright grueling the process of becoming a Witcher is for a small child would certainly do a great job of painting Geralt – who often comes across as cold and heartless – in a more sympathetic manner ahead of any potential second series.
The Witcher is expected to land on Netflix in late 2019, and the streaming service is already said to have renewed Geralt and the gang for at least two more series – just don’t expect the show to ditch the novels and start adapting the video games any time soon.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.