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The Witcher: First trailer shows Henry Cavill in action as Geralt of Rivia

At San Diego Comic-Con 2019, we finally got a look at Cavill battling evil in the Netflix adaptation of the book series.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
Sean knows far too much about Marvel, DC and Star Wars, and poured this knowledge into recaps and explainers on CNET. He also worked on breaking news, with a passion for tech, video game and culture.
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Sean Keane
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A pack of fans at San Diego Comic-Con were treated to the first trailer for Netflix's The Witcher series on Friday. We'd already seen shots of Henry Cavill as hero Geralt of Rivia and of his trusty steed, Roach, but this is our first footage from the adaptation of the Polish book that spawned a series of video games .

The new trailer was shown to the audience attending The Witcher panel at SDCC on Friday. And the reactions hitting social media have been positive.

The Witcher is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's book series, which kicked off with 1993's The Last Wish, and CD Projekt Red's three-game series, which started in 2007. Each follows traveling monster slayer Geralt as he rights some of the world's wrongs (as long as the price is right). 

The TV series has been in production since 2017, with Daredevil and The Defenders producer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich acting as showrunner.

Cavill was revealed to be playing Geralt in 2018, and told Men's Health earlier this year that training for the role got him into the best shape of his life. Impressive when you consider the guy played Superman. Cavill is a huge fan of the property, having read all the books and played all the games, and Hissrich told CNET's Richard Nieva the actor was a "great resource" during production.

"Having a fan be at the center of the show, he understands what fans are looking for," Hissrich said during a Friday press roundtable.

The rather excellent Witcher 3 is also coming to Nintendo Switch later this year.

Netflix is no doubt hopeful this adaptation will take off like Stranger Things' third season, which gave the streaming service a boost after it saw US subscriptions drop for the first time in eight years.

First published July 19 at 3:10 p.m. PT.
Updated July 22 at 3:35 a.m. PT: Adds quote from CNET interview.