Henry Cavill. He's a hell of a Witcher. He'd make a great Emperor of Mankind. He's the sexiest system builder we know. And on top of all that, a number of Blizzard developers, including former Blizzard senior vice president Chris Metzen, think he'd make a most excellent Arthas Menethil.
The whole thing started in September when graphic designer Mustafa Kemal Sezeroğlu posted a movie poster mock-up for a not-actually-real Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King film, with Henry Cavill in the title role.
It wound up on Reddit in short order, naturally, but didn't get much traction after that—until Netflix released the images of Big Geralt to promote the upcoming season 2 of The Witcher.
That led to speculation on Twitter that Cavill would make a pretty good Arthas too, a sentiment that eventually came to the attention of Blizzard folks including writer Christine Golden, associate narrative designer Anne Stickney, and Metzen.
On the Arthas train.October 5, 2020
That Henry would be a good Arthas or that he’s dreamy? Clearly both... d’uh.October 5, 2020
I'm just imagining him saying "This city must be purged" and it's....pretty much perfectOctober 5, 2020
Of course, that led to another mock-up, this one courtesy of redditor Shara184:
Unfortunately, the odds of another Warcraft film happening anytime soon are not good. Despite showing early potential, the 2016 movie was a big letdown , and director Duncan Jones said in 2018 that the experience was "really, really difficult and at times disheartening." Which isn't to say that he wouldn't be up for making a sequel, but he was clear that he'd only do it with a "lower budget [and] less cooks in the kitchen." I bet he'd make room for Henry, though.