Henry Cavill's Witcher Wig Became An Obsession For One Key Member Of The Crew
When Henry Cavill was cast as Geralt of Rivia in "The Witcher," not everyone could initially picture the darkly handsome leading man as the White Wolf. That included showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who actually auditioned 207 other actors before going with Cavill.
A known video game enthusiast who will soon star in and executive produce a "Warhammer" series for Amazon, Cavill was eager to be a part of "The Witcher" even before there was a script. As Lauren Schmidt Hissrich told Gizmodo, "As soon as it was announced it was going to be a show, [Cavill] contacted his agents who contacted Netflix and said he wants to be part of this. And Netflix was like, 'We don't have a show yet, there's nothing to be a part of!'"
Still, the "Man of Steel" star remained persistent and eventually landed the role. But he'd have to undergo a considerable makeup process in order to transform into the monster hunter with a silver mane and golden eyes. In "Witcher" lore, Geralt is actually the only one of his kind to have such a striking appearance. The result of being pushed beyond the standard Trial of the Grasses — the series of experiments used to turn children into the monster hunters known as Witchers — Geralt's silver hair and yellow irises helped establish him as one of the most infamous monster hunters on The Continent. But the colored contacts used to change Cavill's eye color almost blinded the actor after he kept them in for much longer than the three hours he was supposed to.
On top of all that, the wig used to give Cavill his luxurious platinum locks took much more work to get right than you might think.
Wig nightmares
Jacqueline Rathore was the hair and makeup artist in charge of Henry Cavill's look on "The Witcher," and it seems she took her job very seriously. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Cavill revealed that when he first donned the wig it was basically pure white, which he said, "on camera, in those lights, ends up shining like the moon and it looked, frankly, ridiculous." If you take a look at when Cavill's "Witcher" look was first revealed, you can see how the wig wasn't quite as convincing in the early days. But Rathore took it upon herself to refine the hair-piece and dedicated herself to getting it right.
Speaking at Netflix's WitcherCon back in 2021, Cavill said:
"[Rathore] didn't get to build the wig. And so then she kind of adopted it. And then she worked on it and worked on it. She was taking it home every evening, every evening taking it home. She was dreaming about that darn thing. And then eventually I think she crushed it. So through the season you can tell, and you're like, 'That's where it starts to look really good,' and that's after Jacqui had her hands on it for a while."
Asked about the wig in another interview, Cavill revealed there were actually three wigs, all of which Rathore worked on at home. According to the actor, the hair stylist was "changing individual hairs" and sent the pieces "to get lace change for a final lace so it's less visible." All of which, according to Cavill, led to Rathore "having nightmares about the wigs."
The real heroes of The Witcher
Asked at WitcherCon if he'd kept a wig as a souvenir, Henry Cavill said:
"I haven't kept one yet, no. Because they are – they're actually quite valuable because Jacqui's done so much work on them that I would never want to take one in case I damage it or something. Or, you know, someone spills coffee on it. [Laughing] It's not a great look."
Whether Rathore will have to embark on a whole new wig journey for Liam Hemsworth, who's taking over the role of Geralt from Cavill in "The Witcher," remains to be seen. But it seems likely, as the whole thing will no doubt have to be redesigned to fit Hemsworth's head. At least Rathore has already figured out what works having gone on her hair-piece odyssey with Cavill.
The show was supposed to give the leading man the hero's sendoff he deserved, but unfortunately fell short of delivering on that promise. The actor undoubtedly embodied the role of Geralt, and even endured near career-ending injuries in the name of performing all his own stunts. But it seems the real heroes here were the wig and Rathore all along. Perhaps there should be a special episode of "The Witcher" that bids adieu to the overlooked hero that was Henry Cavill's hair-piece ahead of the fourth season premiere.