The Surprising Witcher Season 2 Scene You Didn't Know Henry Cavill Wrote
Contains spoilers for "The Witcher" Season 2
After two long years, Season 2 of Netflix's fantasy drama series "The Witcher" is finally here — and where the series' first season was befuddled by overlapping timelines and a nonlinear narrative, Season 2 provides fans with a much more straightforward story.
Season 2 follows the legendary Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) as he and Ciri (Freya Allen) seek refuge in the fabled Witcher stronghold known as Kaer Morhen, where Ciri begins training to become a Witcher herself. It's a storyline that is all too familiar to fans of the critically acclaimed book and video game series that the show is based on, as it reveals a great deal about the mysterious magical abilities that Ciri possesses (something that will play a major role in the future of the series, now that the Wild Hunt has been introduced). However, that doesn't mean the new season is without its fair share of twists and turns. In fact, there is one specific scene that is so shocking and so emotionally charged that actor Henry Cavill actually took it upon himself to make sure it was done right.
Cavill wrote Geralt's goodbye speech to Roach
When Ciri and Geralt go toe-to-toe with a fearsome beast known as a Chernobog, Geralt's horse, Roach, is mortally wounded, and Geralt is forced to put his longtime friend out of his misery. For fans of the video game series in particular, this death hits twice as hard: Roach is a staple of the series, and the player's closest companion as they journey across the Continent hunting monsters, so it's no wonder that Henry Cavill took matters into his own hands to make Roach's death as emotionally poignant as possible.
"When we kill Roach on-screen, Henry actually wrote what he says to the horse," showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed to GamesRadar+. "It was wildly emotional... We wanted to make sure that we honored it in the right way, and that we made his death heroic." Fans will know that throughout the series, Geralt names every horse he owns "Roach," and Hissrich insisted that the inclusion of Roach's death in the series was an exploration of what makes Geralt so connected to that name. "I wanted to start talking about that," she explained. "Who was Roach in his life, and what happens when he loses his best friend?"
Cavill's contribution to the scene helps make it perhaps the most memorable and emotionally charged death in the entire series, and proves once again just how committed Cavill is when it comes to his role as Geralt of Rivia.