Henry Cavill Confirms What We All Suspected About Kristofer Hivju's On-Set Behavior

Netflix released the second season of its hit epic fantasy series "The Witcher" on December 17. In response, critics had many good things to say about this latest batch of episodes, focusing largely on how it addresses some prominent issues viewers had with the show's prior outing. Among the various changes to the "Witcher" universe in Season 2 is the addition of the boar-faced Nivellen. His monstrous visage is not his natural appearance but a curse, doled out in retribution for an attempted assault.

Nivellenis is portrayed by Kristofer Hivju, who plenty of viewers will likely recognize as the actor behind the bearded Wilding Tormund Giantsbane in "Game of Thrones." In a Q&A session that IGN shared to its YouTube channel, Henry Cavill, who portrays series lead Geralt of Rivia, spoke briefly about what it was like to work with Hivju on the set of "The Witcher," characterizing his co-star as a consummate professional at his craft.

Amidst a longer discussion about "The Witcher" Season 2, IGN interviewer Josh Horowitz brought up the addition of a number of new characters, providing Hivju's Nivellen as an example. In response, series lead Henry Cavill shared his thoughts about what it was like to work with Hivju.

"I loved working with him. As I've said before, he's recognizable from his incredible bombastic performances in 'Game of Thrones,' and this is also very bombastic, but there's such a beautiful performance he does right at the end, which is really deep, soulful, and Shakespearean in its nature. And it touched me," Cavill said.

He then went on to recount how the two of them would, naturally, talk shop on set, sharing their ideas about what sorts of projects they would most want to work on with one another. It was once the cameras started rolling, however, that Cavill recounted bearing witness to the depth of Hivju's talent. "Just to see this performance come out of him, you think, it's one thing having conversations, but then when you see a performance like that live in front of you, and repeated, you realize that's someone you really wanna work with," he said.

So, while he and Hivju had a convivial working relationship off-camera, Cavill revealed that Hivju's professionalism in front of the camera is what impressed him the most about the former "Game of Thrones" star.