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Netflix’s Witcher Trailer Reveals Release Date (& Henry Cavill In A Bath)
Netflix has released an official trailer for The Witcher TV series, confirming it for a December 20 premiere date. Henry Cavill stars in the fantasy TV show as Geralt of Rivia, the loner monster hunter who struggles to get by in a world "where people often prove more wicked than beasts". Other key characters on the series include Princess Ciri (Freya Allan) and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra).
Created and show-run by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (The Defenders, The Umbrella Academy), The Witcher series is said to draw more from the original fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski than the popular video game franchise of the same name. Netflix has been teasing the show's imminent arrival for months now, going back to The Witcher teaser trailer dropping online after its panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past July. It was previously rumored the show would begin streaming on December 17, but Netflix was pretty quick to shoot the idea down. As it turns out, though, that date wasn't too far off from the real one.
The main trailer for The Witcher is here now, confirming its release in the latter half of December. You can check it out in the space below.
The first half of The Witcher trailer does a pretty good job of laying out the basics of the show's story; namely, Geralt hunts monsters for a living (but isn't fully human himself) and would prefer to mind his own business, but soon learns his destiny is entangled with Ciri and Yennefer's. The preview moves into a steady montage of flashy imagery from there, showcasing its stylish action sequences and impressive production values, while at the same time highlighting various characters and elements that, no doubt, mean more to those who're already deeply invested in The Witcher's mythology (either the books and/or video games). That includes a nod to the infamously revealing shot of Geralt taking a bath during The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, as Hirrish previously confirmed would appear in the show.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether The Witcher becomes another success for Netflix, or struggles to take off despite having a clearly significant budget and popular source material to draw from. The Witcher isn't the only buzzed-about genre series making its way to the small screen over the next two months either, what with HBO readying to launch its expensive His Dark Materials adaptation next week, followed by the release of the first-ever live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, just over seven days later. So far, though, The Witcher looks promising enough - and with eight episodes, the first season should make for a manageable binge-watch over this year's winter holidays.
The Witcher streams on Netflix beginning Friday, December 20.
