Henry Cavill opened up in an interview with THR about the hamstring injury he sustained filming The Witcher season 2. The actor stars as monster-hunting Witcher Geralt of Rivia in the hit Netflix series which debuted in December 2019. Cavill will return in the show's second season, which is set for release on December 17.
In The Witcher, Cavill plays Geralt of Rivia, a white-haired magically enhanced monster hunter known as a Witcher. Geralt's story sees him traveling across the fantasy world of the Continent to complete various tasks, where he is ultimately prophesized to have his destiny changed when he meets a girl in the forest. His travels see him slay monsters and serve royalty, forming bonds with bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) and sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), before meeting the foretold girl in the forest, Ciri (Freya Allan) in the season's final episode. The second season's trailer teased greater stakes and threats for Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri, and Jaskier, but with the promise of higher stakes comes more action scenes being filmed. During production, it was revealed that Cavill suffered a hamstring injury when filming a woodland scene, and now the actor has opened up about the incident.
Speaking to THR about his various roles and future aspirations, Cavill opened up about the injury he sustained in December 2020. Cavill described the injury as a bad tear that could have led to a complete detachment of the hamstring. He stated it was difficult working while injured, as he wanted to do more for the production to keep things on track. Revealing that he had to find a balance between working his best and not pushing himself too far, he called the injury the worst professional moment of the past year. Read Cavill's full quote below.
“It was a very, very bad tear, and I was very lucky that it wasn’t a complete detachment of the hamstring... The difficulty was working while I was injured. Because I wanted to do more for the production — I know how important it was for them to get stuff done. So it was having to find that balance between, ‘Yes, let’s push, push, push,’ and, ‘Whoa, hold on, if I tear this further, it’s the end of my action career.’ That was my worst moment of the past year — professionally.”
Cavill recently reiterated his dedication to the show's future beyond its currently ordered three seasons. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed that she had planned out the show for seven seasons in 2019, and in a recent interview, Cavill stated that he'd be committed to the series to tell more stories that honor original author Andrzej Sapkowski's book series. Cavill also opened up about his future roles recently, expressing his hope to play Captain Britain in the MCU and that he is hopeful to play Superman once more in the DCEU.
Cavill's injury marked the second notable injury to happen during The Witcher's filming, as Chalotra suffered a back injury during the production of season 1. As such, it was incredibly unfortunate to see another star suffer an on-set injury, with fans online wishing him well as he recovered. While there is an inherent risk in filming any stunt scene, the safety of the cast and crew should be paramount.
Source: THR