Henry Cavill can't stop thinking about Warhammer, even on The Witcher set

We know (and gosh, just love) Henry Cavill as a card-carrying PC gamer and star of The Witcher on Netflix, but he's also well known as a fan of Warhammer. And I don't mean that he played Total War: Warhammer 2, although he does play it quite a lot—I mean, he's in it. He also paints Warhammer miniatures, and earlier this year sparked a meme-led campaign to cast him as the Emperor of Mankind in a new HBO series. (Which, for the record, doesn't actually exist—but given how things have gone with Game of Thrones and The Witcher, isn't the worst idea I've ever heard.)

As Warhammer cred goes, it's pretty solid, and Cavill handily dispelled any doubts about it in an interview during last week's WitcherCon. Naturally, he was there to discuss all things Witcher, but as the chat drew to a close he indulged his inner Custodes with an aside about a chandelier.

"There's something I've been dying to say," Cavill said. "Sorry, this is completely—I just—every day on set, on this set, I was grinding my teeth because there was no one who would know the reference that I'm about to give you."

"That chandelier looks like a Blackstone Fortress," he continued, pointing at the great, Gothic fixture hanging from the ceiling. "I know that no one on set would've got that, and so I've been biting my tongue about that ... I don't know if that's the inspiration, but that thing looks like a Blackstone Fortress."

(Image credit: Netflix)

First things first—a quick dip into Warhammer lore. Blackstone Fortresses are massive, Warp-based ships and weapons of mass destruction, discovered during the 33rd Millennium but not awoken until the Gothic War, when Abaddon the Despoiler discovered the secret to bringing their full capabilities to life. Both the Imperium of Man and the forces of Chaos have Blackstone Fortress in their possession, but they are believed to have been constructed during the War in Heaven between the Old Ones and the Necrons, which took place 60 million years prior to the 41st Millennium.

Man, I love that Warhammer lore.

Anyway, do they look alike? I have to say yes, they kind of do:

If you missed it the first time around, you can catch Cavill's full WitcherCon interview below.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.