Henry Cavill’s long, flowing silver wig for The Witcher spouts Geralt memes

Earlier today, Netflix revealed the first look of Henry Cavill as Geralt in its adaptation of The Witcher fantasy series. The short screen test shows the Superman actor wearing a long, silver wig and looking very serious, before taking an oddly sensual sip from a potion bottle.

The Witcher has a passionate fan base spawning from both the book series and the video game franchise of the same name, so naturally, seeing a long-loved character get a live-action adaptation sparked reactions, which ranged from enthusiastic fawning over Henry Cavill’s chiseled stoicism to a critique of how Cavill’s version of Geralt could never possibly live up to other ones.

As with any sort of buzz on the internet, Cavill’s first look started to sprout memes.

Turns out, there was something recognizable about the flowing pale locks resting atop Cavill’s head. Many started to compare the actor to other pale-haired high fantasy characters, most notably Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Thranduil (Lee Pace) of Middle-earth.

More contemporary fantasy works weren’t left out, though, and many likened Cavill’s streams of silver to Harry Potter secondary villain Lucius Malfoy, as portrayed by Jason Isaacs.

Even Fandom.com got in on the action.

The cascade of glimmering hair also called to mind another video game silver fox, namely Raiden from Mortal Kombat as portrayed by Christopher Lambert from the cheesy 1995 live-action movie. The resemblance is striking: the luminous tresses, the sultry strong jaw — are we sure these are different looks?

There were other more varied comparisons, all sprouting from the eye-catching wig.

While it’s definitely the wig grabbing everyone’s attention with its glimmer, the actual dramatic clip of Cavill was fodder for other memes. Specifically, his long sultry potion drink.

Cavill’s Geralt is joined by Freya Allan (The War of the Worlds, Bluebird) as Ciri, and Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust, The ABC Murders) as Yennefer.

The Witcher is set to premiere on Netflix in 2019.