Netflix’s The Witcher was a television juggernaut—not just because of Henry Cavill or his wigged locks, but also because of that oh-so-catchy jingle, “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher.” Unfortunately, the gift of song is also a curse for actor Joey Batey, who’s been stuck with the addictive tune for months.
“I think it’s a crackin’ song, but I’ve been listening to it for about a year now,” Batey said with a chuckle. “It’s pretty hellish.”
In a video interview with Variety, Batey shared the challenges behind being the vocalist of “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,” The Witcher’s unofficial theme song that took the internet by storm, inspiring dozens of covers—the actor said the heavy metal ones are his favourites, adding how 14-year-old Batey would be having a “field day” over it.
In previous interviews, Batey shared how the song was designed to showcase Jaskier’s evolution into the Continent’s version of an Instagram influencer, spreading news and good vibes throughout the land. Maybe it’s done too good a job, because Batey shared how the damn song keeps getting stuck in his head. When asked what song works the best to get “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” out of his head, he said Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time.”
“I’ll just get in the shower and I’ll start going, ‘Toss a… no, no, no. OK, just reset.’ And then I have to sing about 30 different songs to get it out of my head,” he said.
Batey also talked about filming scenes with Cavill, who he shared a good amount of screen time with. Given Geralt’s tendency to grunt and huff instead of saying stuff, Batey said some of the expository dialogue was handed to him so the scenes would make sense. But it worked for them. Batey said they had a great working relationship, and would always been goofing off before filming started. Cavill would immediately have to switch into Serious Geralt Mode, but Jaskier was better off keeping the joke going.
“We are kind of giggling; it’s really bad, because obviously we’ll be laughing and then we’ll hear ‘Sound speed, rolling!’ And we’ll go, ‘Oh good god, we have to be in character!’ Henry just goes, ugh, gets into this [grunts], just like this growl…and I always find it really funny. So I start all of my scenes laughing at him, because that’s how I get into my character, is just going ‘You’re ridiculous. Geralt, come on.’”
The first season of The Witcher is currently available on Netflix and it’s already been renewed for season two, which is set to come out sometime in 2021. There will also be an animated film released beforehand, called The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, centered around Geralt’s mentor Vesemir.