Joey Batey on ‘The Witcher’ Jaskier’s Queerness: “I’m Excited And Apprehensive”

Actor TV Series

2023-06-30
10:43

In the ‘The Witcher’ fandom, Geraskier — Geralt (played by Henry Cavill) and Jaskier (played by Joey Batey) — is probably the most popular ship. And while the show has not made this ship a reality (yet), in the third season of the highly popular dark fantasy series, we will learn more about Jaskier’s sexuality and queerness!

The third season of ‘The Witcher’ starts streaming on June 29, and it introduces a new character named Prince Radovid, played by Hugh Skinner, with whom Jaskier explores his sexuality.

Prince Radovid is the king of Redania, and in an interview with Gay Times, Skinner describes him as “purposeless, bored, and drunk.” His character then meets Jaskier after getting “embroiled, politically, with the court.” He’s heard of Jaskier’s songs, and he falls for him.

In the same interview, Batey opened up about his thoughts on Jaskier’s new romance. “I’ve been interested in exploring other sides to him and also keen to get a bit more queer representation on the screen,” he said. “So, I was very excited and a little apprehensive, if I’m honest, because I wanted to ensure that this was done sensitively and carefully; that it wasn’t, in any way, becoming stereotyped.”

Skinner added that as a gay guy himself, playing a queer character in the show “was a thrilling opportunity” and that it’s “so exciting and a real privilege.”

When asked about the potential negative backlash they might receive, Batey acknowledged that “there is a very vocal negative space,” however, he sees it as “actually the minority.” Instead, he is more concerned about how he could counteract when the discourse becomes bigotry. He said he would “log onto Twitter and battle them all off [himself].”

‘The Witcher’ Season 3 premieres June 29 on Netflix.