Further details afforded to us by the company shed some light on the cast and the production team involved. It shouldn’t come as great surprise that returning to the cast are Henry Cavill who leads the cast, playing the role of Geralt of Rivia. Anya Chalotra also returns as the sorceress Yennefer, Freya Allan as Ciri and Joey Batey as fan-favourite Jaskier.

There’s also a couple of new faces to lookout for, they include Yasen Atour (Young Wallander) as Coen, Agnes Bjorn (Monster) as Vereena, Paul Bullion (Peaky Blinders) as Lambert, Thue Ersted Rasmussen (Fast and Furious 9) as Eskel, Aisha Fabienne Ross (The Danish Girl) as Lydia, Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) as Nivellen, and recent graduate Mecia Simson, as Francesca.

The series will be directed by Stephen Surjik (Umbrella Academy) who will direct episode 201 and 202, Sarah O’Gorman (Cursed) for episodes 203 and 204, Ed Bazalgette (The Last Kingdom) for episodes 205 and 208, and Geeta V. Patel (Meet The Patels) for episodes 206 and 207. Quite the cool and perfect bunch to direct if you ask us!

The series showrunner and Executive Producer, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich (Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s The Defenders, Umbrella Academy) commented:

“The reaction to season one of The Witcher set a high bar for adding new talent for the second season. Sophie Holland and her casting team have once again found the very best people to embody these characters, and in the hands of these accomplished directors, we’re excited to see these new stories come to life.”

We can’t wait to check out season two and even though it’s only scheduled for next year, we are pretty that it’s not that far because with the way things are moving, you’ll blink and it’s 2021 before you know it.

Officially released today, The Witcher saga, as mentioned, is headlined by Henry Cavill (Mission Impossible – Fallout, Justice League) who assumes the role of Geralt of Rivia, alongside other main cast members, Anya Chalotra (The ABC Murders, Wanderlust) as Yennefer and Freya Allan (The War of the Worlds, Into The Badlands) as Ciri.

It’s interesting to note that even before season 1 aired, Netflix had already decided this one was a winner by immediately renewing it for a second season, talk about confidence and it’s easy to see why. Initial reactions from those who had already seen it much earlier have been very positive with Wired.com calling it “shockingly good,” while those across social media have praised the look of the series. According to qz.com, The Wicher is Netflix’s answer to HBO’s Game of Thrones:

“Ever since Game of Thrones became a global phenomenon shortly after it premiered in 2011, every TV network and streaming service has been searching for their version of the HBO fantasy series. Thrones helped put the genre into the mainstream by combining it with violence, sex, and political intrigue. Those elements, together with some very expensive computer-generated dragons, turned Game of Thrones into arguably the biggest TV series of all time.”

The Witcher does a great job of grabbing you from the very first episode which is probably as good as it can get in terms of an introduction to any new show. And in as much as Cavill is central to it, the show also delves away from the main character by putting in the work and introducing other characters, something we quite liked. The cinematography is fantastic with beautifully shot scenes including the epic choreographed fight scenes which are some of the best you’ll ever see anywhere. In Cavill the show has a more than capable lead with the role no doubt doing his reputation a lot of good, something the Superman persona hasn’t done a lot of, he is in fact a better Geralt than he is Superman.

Considering it’s supposed competition (Game of Thrones, The Kingdom, Vikings etc.), mainly because of its style and tone, The Witcher does a great job of standing out and this is largely thanks to its rich and unique story. It definitely has a place and is yet another great addition to Netflix’s ever growing rich content. The Witcher is yet another perfect example of how a title can start from a comic book to a computer game to console and finally (eventually) television. Arguably, the success of the video game series have been one of the main motivations for the Netflix series. If we had access to every episode before then we would have binge watched the whole thing, luckily we can now with every episode now available for all of us to sink our teeth into right here.

Cast – Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan & Alec Baldwin

Director – Christopher McQuarrie

Genre – Action/Adventure

Running Time – 2h 27m

The Premise

The best intentions often come back to haunt you. Mission: Impossible – Fallout finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong. Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the dynamic cast with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie returning to the helm.

The plot might not give too much away (which is a good thing) but upon casting an eye on the trailer as well as the absolute powerhouse cast it has, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking there is something to this one and you wouldn’t be mistaken. I have watched quite a few action movies in my lifetime, from fantastic ones to just plain cheesy and mediocre ones, Mission: Impossible – Fallout firmly forms part of the former…this movie more than delivers on its promise.

All the current reviews aren’t kidding when they describe it as fast, sleek, and fun…that’s exactly what it is. In fact I can even go as further as to say it’s a classy roller coaster ride that will keep you on edge with some of the death defying sequences it includes. Everything about this movie just works, from the fight scenes to the little humor it has. Nothing feels forced and it flows perfectly across the different scenes shot from some of the most scenic and beautiful places around the world.

I also mentioned the supporting cast earlier with Henry Cavill (better known as Superman nowadays) forming a large part of this…an interesting and great choice it is. As for the lead, for all his movies, I will forever remember and associate Tom Cruise with the Mission Impossible franchise with this latest offering being his best ever movie I reckon. And for all his critics, I reckon this movie is enough to shut some, if not most them up. Can’t say it enough but Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a great movie.

A roller coaster ride that will keep you on edge throughout, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a spectacular blockbuster movie perfectly made for any movie lover regardless of whether or not you enjoy action movies. Definitely in my top 10 movies for the year, it gets a blockbuster 8.5 out of 10 rating from me. Officially opens in Ster Kinekor cinemas nationwide today, GO SEE IT.

Special thanks to M-Net Movies (in partnership with Ster Kinekor) for the screening!