He's back on our screens this week as Geralt of Rivia as The Witcher returns, but Henry Cavill, confirmed geek, also has his eye on other fantasy projects. He's especially interested in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, full of space marines doing battle, and he has some specific adaptations in mind.
Talking about why there has yet to be a giant, good Warhammer 40k adaptation, Cavill's clear: "I think because Games Workshop have been very protective of their IP, and that's a great decision, and very wise. There haven't been just loads of TV shows and movies all done poorly. It needs to be handled perfectly. It needs to be handled to a Lord Of The Rings level. And if it's not, I'll be massively disappointed."
Which naturally brought talk around to which characters and games he'd want to play to appear in. And to his credit, Cavill's not greedy. Asked if he'd leap at the chance to be Eisenhorn, he's quick to demur.
"I mean, I don't know about Eisenhorn necessarily, when you've got Valdor and Primarchs out there," he says, out-geeking Empire without even trying. "It seems a shame to be a mere Inquisitor. But I would absolutely leap at that opportunity — it's something I'd be very, very excited to do."
As you might expect form a man who currently makes his living slaying bruxas and kikimoras as Geralt of Rivia, Cavill may be a Warhammer 40,000 fan first and foremost, but the Witcher star also has time for Warhammer's more traditional fantasy flavour. "Warhammer fantasy I enjoy because of the Total War games. I was that guy who bought all of the Warhammer fantasy armies, books, and all of the codexes and would just read them. I never had a chance to actually play with anyone, but I would get all the lore and learn all the rules. The Sigmar storyline is fantastic!. I haven't played Age Of Sigmar, haven't got into that, but the books written about Sigmar were brilliant. So there's a potential for a storyline there as well. There is so much stuff and that world is so rich, and that universe is so exciting. That is the true dream job opportunity. If I were to have the opportunity to show that as live action then I would be ecstatic!"
For the full, nerderific interview with Cavill, in which he discusses his love of fantasy novels, reveals his favourite chapter of Space Marines, and spends a not insignificant amount of time discussing his magnificent dog, Kal, listen to the new episode of The Pilot TV Podcast. The new season of The Witcher hits Netflix this Friday.