The Star Wars saga is over, and the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher has aired. What do the two series have to to do with one another? Mark Hamill, if the gossip is to be believed. The actor best-known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies should have some more free time in his schedule going forward, and casting in the second season of The Witcher is on the horizon, but it’s all speculation and hype at this point, as no casting choices have been confirmed.
The speculation began back in early 2018, while The Witcher series was still in early stages. The show’s creator, Lauren Hissrich, shared a number of tweets describing several key characters in the franchise. Another Twitter account suggested that the character Vesemir should be played by Hamill, who responded to the suggestion himself.
Hamill wrote: “I have no idea what this is or what it’s about but agree it could/should be played by me.” It didn’t take long for the official Twitter account of The Witcher game series to share a mocked-up image of Hamill’s face on Vesemir’s body.
The matter had remained fairly silent for over a year — until a more recent Tweet from Hamill that responded to an IGN post about the possible casting. “I still have no idea what this is or what it’s about, but I DO know they haven’t ever asked me to play Vesemir … yet. #CallMyAgent,” it said.
Adding fuel to the fire, Hissrich posted a response to Hamill’s tweet:
????
— Lauren S. Hissrich (@LHissrich) December 25, 2019
That response from the show’s creator at least suggests the casting for Vesemir is still up in the air.
There are fans on both sides of the discussion. Hamill’s frankness about not knowing who Vesemir is has fans concerned he might not be a good fit for the father figure that guides Geralt in The Witcher series. There were probably plenty of people equally concerned about Henry Cavill’s casting as Geralt. After all, Geralt is a bit more grim and gruff than Superman, who Cavill is best-known for portraying. Those concerns likely went out the window after the first serious sword clash in the debut episode of the season.
The hype about Hamill landing the role may be for naught. Hamill specializes in voice performances these days, with on-screen roles less frequent. Of course, in his most recent role in Star Wars, he showed he can play the seasoned wiseman leading a younger generation. The role of Vesemir would have plenty of overlap with that.
We’ll keep following the conversation to see if anything new develops.
