The first season of The Witcher dropped on Netflix just before Christmas 2019 and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t already seen all eight episodes about five times already. Most people I know have already seen it, or are in the process of watching it, but if you’re still undecided here are six reasons why this should be the next show you binge. For those of us who’ve already seen it, we’ll have to hang on until 2021 – or just rewatch the series yet again!
- The Women
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From Yennefer of Vengerberg to Tissaia de Vries to Queen Calanthe to Princess Cirilla, The Witcher is full of badass and powerful women, who control most of the fictional world that the main character Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) traverses. I went into this show expecting it to be a little like Game of Thrones where there certainly are some powerful women, but they’re either constantly fighting against or brutalised by men. While there are some men in The Witcher who need put in their place, I was ridiculously relieved to see how the women in this show get to exist independently of men and (unlike GoT) there wasn’t a single scene where a woman was raped or assaulted in order for her to come into her power!
- Jaskier
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Yes, Joey Batey’s character, the bard Jaskier, is getting a point of his own. This loveable comic relief attaches himself to the main character Geralt and then decides to follow him around for the next few episodes singing songs that are ridiculously catchy (Toss a coin to your Witcher anyone?)! He lightens the relatively serious episodes and brings some much needed humanity to Geralt, plus the actor seems to have a good sense of humour and has posted some amazing memes about his and Henry Cavill’s characters.
- The Action
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I’m not generally big into action scenes, but all the sword fighting and battle scenes in this show are fantastic! Henry Cavill manages to make Geralt look seriously deadly and while he got so buff that he actually ripped his costume, it was well worth it for the pay off!
- The Plot
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Now, admittedly the plot is a little confusing until you realise that most of the storylines involving Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), Jaskier, or Geralt take place up to 65 years before the storyline involving Princess Cirilla (Freya Allan), but it’s also really good. The Witcher introduces you to the magical world created by Andrzej Sapkowksi, the author of the books that the series is based on, and has everything from elves to dragons to witches. What I loved most about this is that they managed to feature a racially diverse cast without labouring the point or going in the same direction as The Lord of the Rings movies which only featured white people.
- Geralt is relatable AF!
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He maybe a giant, (hot), white haired, mutant witcher, but honestly Geralt of Rivia is super relatable. He’s got one friend (Jaskier) who is always dragging him places he doesn’t want to go. His literal job is to kill monsters, but most of the time he doesn’t kill them, he’s always swearing, and all he really wants is to hang out with his horse Roach. I too never want to go places and would rather chill at home with my cats making Geralt by far one of the most relatable characters in the show.
- Henry Cavill’s leather trousers
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You may say: why is this on the list? Is this really such a big selling point? The answer is unequivocally: yes.
While various characters get their kit off throughout the series and there is a very memorable scene where Geralt is in a bathtub, we really need to pay tribute to the leather trousers that keep our eyes on the screen during some of the more “talky” parts of the show! Don’t believe me? Well, you’ll just have to see for yourself!