'The Witcher': 'Game of Thrones' Star Kristofer Hivju Reportedly Joins Season 2

The Witcher has reportedly cast Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju in Season 2. According to a report by Redanian Intelligence, Hivju will play the character Nivellen. Fans of the books say this role is ideal for the beloved actor.

Hivju may be done with Game of Thrones, but his time in high fantasy adaptations is far from over. Redanian Intelligence, a fan news site for The Witcher, obtained a casting breakdown reportedly revealing that Hivju has been cast as Nigel, which is almost certainly a codename for Nivellen. The character description appears to confirm this.

Hivju will come into the story in an adaptation of the Witcher short story "A Grain of Truth," collected in the first book in the series, The Last Wish. Nivellen is a charismsatic, witty man -- not unlike the wildling chief Tormund, whom Hivju played on Game of Thrones. Of course, there are differences as well.

Nivellen comes from an aristocratic family on The Continent, but he has been cursed for his past crimes. While he may start out as a comic relief character, he will go through a wide emotional range on the show, so Hivju may get a chance to show off new skills in his acting repertoire.

The casting sheet indicates that Hivju will appear as Nivellen in the first episode of The Witcher Season 2, and will not return for the rest of the run. This means that the adaptation of "A Grain of Truth" will be confined to one episode. Sadly, this may limit Hivju's involvement with the show, though it will leave lots of room for other stories in the series.

"A Grain of Truth" is a relatively self-contained story, finding Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) travelling alone in the forest when he encounters Nivellen. The story is one of the more horror-oriented tales in The Witcher franchise, and is a fan-favorite among book readers.

Even before the Netflix original series launched last year, The Witcher had already found fans outside of the original books. The franchise was written by Andrzej Sapkowski in Polish, then translated into English and adapted into a popular series of video games. With the success of other medieval fantasy shows like Game of Thrones, The Witcher got its second adaptation on Netflix in December.

The show remains one of the biggest TV series in the world nearly two months after its release, according to a report by Business Insider. Globally, it has even surpassed one of its biggest competitors, The Mandalorian, released at the same time on Disney+.

As for the next installment, The Witcher Season 2 is filming now in Europe. There is no release date in place just yet.