The Witcher has become one of the most prolific and well-known gaming franchises in the gaming community, with a popularity that is at least partially to thank for the wildly popular Netflix original series we saw released in late December of 2019. With both being based on a series of books by Polish fantasy author Andzrej Sapkowski, there’s a plethora of stories to be told – and characters to cast.
Naturally, everyone has their favorite character that they want to see take the metaphorical big screen. As such, one of the characters that a great amount of the community wanted to see was a cursed man named Nivellen. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up seeing him in the first season, but it seems like we might get to see him in the second!
According to the Witcher-focused news outlet the Redanian Intelligence, Game of Thrones actor Kristofer Hivju has been cast in the role of Nivellen in the second season. Specifically, he’s cast as a character named “Nigel,” which seems to be code for Nivellen given the context of the casting breakdown that Redanian Intelligence has procured.
https://twitter.com/NXOnNetflix/status/1222187579639881729?s=20
There are more casting surprises on the casting sheet that Redanian Intelligence has obtained, but few as great to see as Nivellen’s appearance. Unfortunately, according to the same source, it seems that Nivellen will only appear in the opening episode of the show’s second season, so we won’t get to see Tormund Giantsbane as the cursed Nivellen for very long.
The episode is reported to be an adaptation of Sapkowski’s short story “A Grain of Truth,” in which Geralt of Rivia encounters Nivellan as a monstrous nobleman deep in the forest. “A Grain of Truth” has been applauded by fans for its portrayal of the morally grey world of the Witcher’s profession and what truly makes a monster.
It’s also worth considering that Nigel might not be a codename! It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that a character was portrayed differently from the way they were in the books, or even called a different name. Though it wouldn’t seem to be a very useful change to make, it’s possible that Nigel is their own take on Nivellen and we won’t see the character portrayed in the exact manner we expect to.
Either way, Hivju is a fantastic actor and a wonderful addition to the Witcher team. We’ll be seeing him soon in the second season of the Witcher, which truly can’t come quick enough.
