Netflix's The Witcher wouldn’t be complete without its monsters. In a new featurette, the streamer has offered fans a behind-the-scenes look at how the various creatures that showed up in season 2 were created. Ever since the season premiered, Netflix has been revealing images and videos to offer more insight into the much-loved series, and the latest featurette is an eye-opener.
Fans of The Witcher know that Henry Cavill's Geralt of Rivia is a monster hunter, known as a witcher, with supernatural abilities. In the first season of the Netflix adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's books he slayed several monsters, and fans only expected more from season 2. But, it is interesting to see how these monsters were brought to life, and the extent the crew was willing to go to for the process.
The latest featurette released on the Netflix Geeked’s Twitter account shows glimpses of some of the monsters in The Witcher season 2, along with a side-by-side video of the filming process. In many of the scenes, individuals are seen dressed in green spandex suits and carrying foam heads, which are meant to represent the monsters. Most of the video focuses on the big fight scenes involving the various monsters in season 2, including the Basilisks that appear in the final showdown
It is fascinating to see the behind-the-scenes footage of the fight, with actors fighting large foam heads carried by the crew. It is interesting to note how the scene is completely transformed during post-production, and how CGI is used to convert a prosthetic into a life-size nemesis for the witchers. As part of the video, Kristofer Hivju's Nivellen is also highlighted, and following the release of the featurette, The Witcher's official Twitter account shared a video that focuses on the actor’s transformation for his role.
Hivju reveals that an entire cast was created for his body, which the crew used to finalize the character’s wardrobe for the series. A movement coach was also hired to specifically train Hivju. Together, they “studied boars and bears to figure out how they move.”
The only part that was CGI was Nivellen’s face. The cameras captured the actor’s facial movements during filming, which helped make the The Witcher character seem more real. It also helped the Hivju could make eye contact with the other actors while he filmed his scenes.
The Witcher is streaming on Netflix.
Source: Netflix Geeked/Twitter