Watch The Witcher from The Witcher (no, not that Witcher) read The Witcher

The marketing for The Witcher Netflix series has been on-point so far. First, we had Bathtub Geralt front and centre in a trailer, and now we have Geralt of Rivia himself, Henry Cavill, reading the source material – the Witcher book series – to us. If you haven’t had a chance to dive into Andrzej Sapkowski’s works yet, then you can get your very first taste of what you’ve been missing out on, Cavill-style.

Reclining in a brown armchair with a glass of scotch by his side, Cavill begins reading a passage from The Last Wish, the first short story featuring Geralt of Rivia. It involves the Witcher getting into (what else?) a fight in an inn. Just try not to get too distracted by Cavill’s consistent attempts to maintain eye contact with you. It’s hard to concentrate on the words with him staring at you.

On a more serious note, it’s striking just how much of Sapkowki absolutely nailed Geralt from the very first page. From the description alone, you can see him in your mind’s eye now and it’s a design that went from game to game, before eventually finding its way to forming the inspiration for The Witcher Netflix series and Henry Cavill’s portrayal of Geralt.

So, we’ve had The Witcher reads The Witcher. What next? The Witcher reads your fan fiction? The Witcher reads the bus timetable?  At this point, he could probably read the phone book and we’ll all be clicking.

The Witcher launches on Netflix on Friday, December 20.

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Bradley Russell

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.