Henry Cavill wrote Witcher season 2’s heart-wrenching Roach scene

“It’s some kind of chernobog” is the kind of line that only ends in doom.

The newly published The Witcher season 2 offered a number of shocking turns, it was the opening salvo of episode 6, “Dear Friend…” in which Geralt, Ciri, and their equine companion Roach encounter a dragonlike beast, that crumbled this writer’s heart — and somehow also made me chuckle. The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich says I wasn’t alone.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers and graphic details for The Witcher season 2.]

In “Dear Friend…” Geralt and Ciri find their journey to the Temple of Melitele interrupted by the chernobog, who attacks with razor-sharp claws, but is ultimately no match for a little Witcher magic. The chernobog still draws blood, but then retreats. Horse blood.

In both The Witcher books and video games, “Roach” is the name Geralt uses for his current horse. In the heat of battle, Geralt anoints a new horse with his title after the death of his current horses. This is the scene that ends in grisly murder. The Witcher Season 2 is multilayered. Killing Roach is an inside joke for those who know the circle of life and it’s a really heartbreaking moment.

“What I think is amazing is your reaction is so standard for what I’m hearing,” Hissrich tells me as I bemoan the death of Roach instead of asking her a question. “We kill people, we kill humans all the time on our show and people are like, ‘How could you do that Roach!?’”

Image by Netflix

Both she and her writing team had reasons to be there. For one thing, horses don’t live as long as humans, and “we had already kind of pressed the boundaries of reality there,” she says. “We knew that at some point, Geralt was going to have to get a new Roach.” The staff also didn’t want Roach to die in vain, so they had to write in the chernobog — one of the deadliest beasties in the Witcher universe — to tear the horse a new one. “We wanted Roach to die on screen in a very heroic way.” That he did.

Hissrich admitted that she was tempted to add a little meta-comedy when she wrote the Roach scene. Henry Cavill pushed for a more heartfelt moment, and eventually Hissrich caved — which she says was ultimately the right call.

“Henry was so unhappy with the line,” she recalls. “Finally I said, ‘You know what, you come up with something. I trust you, you know this material so well, you know the book so well, you don’t even have to pitch it to me.’ And he came back the next day with a beautiful speech that’s at the end of Sword of Destiny when Geralt is facing death and it’s such a pitch perfect moment.”

Cavill’s choice is simple, but effective in his gravely Geralt speak: “Enjoy your last walk across the meadow and through the mist. Be not afraid of her for she is your friend.”

Hissrich says Witcher fans are totally in the right to be broken-hearted over the horse’s death, but she offers a glimmer of hope: “There’s going to be a new Roach! It’s still going to be Roach.”