Henry Cavill will Star in and Produce ‘Warhammer 40,000’ Series
After stepping away from ‘The Witcher’ and losing his ‘Superman’ movie gig, Henry Cavill has landed on his feet – and in armour – at Prime Video.
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's 'The Witcher.' Photo: Jay Maidment.
It’s been a rough couple of months for Henry Cavill, career-wise. At the end of October, the announcement came that he was stepping away from Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’, with Liam Hemsworth taking over playing the lead role, Geralt of Rivia (Cavill will still be seen as the character in the upcoming third season next year).
At the time it was thought that the decision was down to him deciding to focus instead on his big screen career, since just before the ‘Witcher’ news broke, he’d taken to social media to confirm his return as Superman in the DC movies, with––spoiler alert––a cameo in the end credits of ‘Black Adam’. As it turns out, more recent reports suggest that he’d become increasingly dissatisfied with the creative direction of ‘The Witcher’ and made the choice to move on.
Still, he had Superman waiting, right? Wrong! The other shoe dropped just this week when new DC Studios co-chief James Gunn used his own twitter feed to announce that the movie universe would be going forward with a new movie he wrote… One that won’t star Cavill.
So, what is the actor to do? Fortunately, he can fall back on something that has long been a passion: ‘Warhammer 40,000’.
Amazon has secured the rights to the game, produced by Games Workshop, after months of negotiations and fending off rival companies, aiming to make both TV for its Prime Video service, and movies. It appears that Cavill is aboard to star in and produce the initial series alongside Vertigo Entertainment.
Henry Cavill Officially Returning as Superman.
“I have loved ‘Warhammer’ since I was a boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honour and the responsibility,” said Cavill. “I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon Studios and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh on lifelong dream come true.”
If you’re looking at ‘Warhammer’ and saying “Whathammer?”, allow us to provide a military briefing. The ‘Dungeons & Dragons’-style sci-fi dice game is set 40,000 years into the future where the situation is dark and dire.
Human civilization has stopped progressing and is in an unending war with aliens and magical beings, with gods and demons figuring into a theological class system.
The humans make up the Imperium of Man, who are militaristic. A race of skeleton-like androids are known as the Necron; there is an elvish race known as Aeldari as well as Orks; Tyranids are nasty aliens; and the T’au is a blue-skinned alien race that may offer some hope. So now you know.
‘Warhammer’, which first launched in 1987, is one of those games that has influenced lots of other projects and faces potential criticism that it is like all of its cinematic and TV progeny.
But at least it means Cavill has a new gig, and one he absolutely will be committed to.
Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's 'The Witcher.' Photo: Jay Maidment.
Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie
A squad of Ultramarines answer a distress call from an Imperial Shrine World. A full Company of Imperial Fists was stationed there, but there is no answer from them.... Read the Plot
