When Henry Cavill was first cast as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's The Witcher, there was contention over the Man of Steel actor's ability to portray the famed monster hunter, partly due to his physical appearance. This particular issue stems from a single description provided in the novels pertaining to the witcher's smile.
Cavill was recently a guest on Variety and iHearts' The Big Ticket podcast, where he discussed his role in The Witcher and the darkness of the world that Geralt inhabits. He began by noting that the titular witcher does not smile much, "When he does, even in the books, it's called a 'hideous smile.'" Returning to the world itself, Cavill explained, "There is a real grimness to it, but there are moments of light and moments of care and loving and strong familial bonds for people who aren't actually family. Those moments seem all the brighter for the darkness in the world."
Talk then returned to Geralt's smile, "This has been up for much discussion online, especially after I got cast. There's a lot of people saying, 'It says he's hideous, or it says it's an ugly smile,'" Cavill said. He continued, "I always saw it, not necessarily as the person being hideous, but as the intent with the smile." The actor then explained his interpretation of the books' description, "There was something that the smile was trying to achieve that struck horror or made someone feel a certain way."
Geralt of Rivia is depicted in the series as being somewhat taciturn and non-expressive, where the novels depict the character as being slightly more talkative and vocal about his thoughts. However, it is worth noting that in the novels and the show, witchers are perceived by the common folk as being devoid of emotion.
The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Ciri and Joey Batey as Jaskier. Season 1 is now available on Netflix.