The Witcher’s unexpected star was none other than Jaskier, played by Joey Batey, but the role almost went to another actor. Based on the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher made its debut on Netflix in December 2019, and as it was one of the platform’s most anticipated releases of the year, it was an instant hit, and it might be Netflix’s biggest first TV season ever. The streaming giant knew what it had in The Witcher, and decided to renew it for a second season before the first one was out.
The Witcher took an unconventional approach to Sapkowski’s stories, choosing to focus on three characters whose stories were set in different places and points in time, though their paths converged by the end of the season. The protagonists, then, are Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), an enhanced monster hunter; Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), a very powerful sorceress; and Ciri (Freya Allan), the crown princess of Cintra who is in the process of discovering her powers. Although they led season 1 of The Witcher, there’s another character that ended up being more popular than them, as he won the audience over with his charm (and catchy songs): Jaskier.
Played by Joey Batey, Jaskier is a traveling bard who befriends Geralt and accompanies him on a couple of missions, must to Geralt’s dismay. Though at this point Geralt wouldn’t exactly call himself a friend of Jaskier, truth is that they formed a strong bond, and Jaskier helped make his work widely known through his songs, most notably “Toss A Coin To Your Witcher”. While Geralt is the main character of the series, casting him wasn’t as hard as casting Jaskier, who according to The Witcher’s casting director Sophie Holland, was “the worst character to cast in the entire series” as finding someone who could be charming, funny, sexy, and more wasn’t easy.
Holland went on to explain that they met actors that came close to what they were looking for for Jaskier but they were “not quite there”. Just when the casting crew was about to give up and settle for the second best option, they did one last push for actors and Batey’s agent suggested the young actor. Batey was only given 24 hours to prepare, and he went the extra mile just to be sure he would get the role. Holland shared that Batey memorized two scenes, borrowed a lute, learned a song, and arrived to the audition dressed as the bard. After that, Holland and company had no doubts that they had finally found their Jaskier.
Holland added that Batey has the whole package needed to play Jaskier: he’s funny, he can sing (and play the lute), he’s charming, and he has range, being able to make the audience laugh but also “bring tears to their eyes”. Of course, Holland didn’t reveal the names of the other actors who came close to playing Jaskier, but she did share that she’s proud of Joey Batey and his performance as Jaskier. Now it’s only a matter of time to see if Jaskier will return in The Witcher season 2 and which catchy songs he will share with the world this time.
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