'The Witcher' Star Henry Cavill Addresses Criticisms Of His Performance As Geralt

Netflix's live-action adaptation of The Witcher was a major hit when it landed on the streaming service late last year. But while its star Henry Cavill impressed the vast majority as monster hunter-for-hire Geralt of Rivia, it's impossible to please everyone.

Most actors tend to swear off reading reviews or seeing what the fans say about them on message boards, but much like the brave and grizzled hero he plays, Cavill has descended into the belly of the beast more than a few times in search of self-improvement. In fact, the actor seems to "thrive" off the things people write about his performance.

"For me, it's vital to go about and read," he explained. "I'm on all the Reddit forums. I'm reading all the reviews. I'm literally trying to get everyone's information. Some of it is not useful, and other criticisms are incredibly useful. I take it all in, and I look forward to bringing it even closer and closer to [The Witcher creator Andrzej] Sapkowski's writing."

Cavill also touched on the difficulty of bringing Geralt from the novels to the screen. In the first few books especially, a lot of emotions and motivations are explained via an inner monologue - something that the TV show couldn't really do without going a bit Scrubs. That's a crossover I'd watch, to be fair.

"I think any of those criticisms, they often lie in things like I was saying," Cavill said. "We don't have the advantage of a long involved conversation or dialogue with Geralt, so they are criticisms which I think I was prepared for.

"So for me, it's about seeing that, understanding it, and working out how I can do my job better within the framework provided, [how to] appease and make those people feel comfortable that I do actually understand this character - and love this character just as much as they do."