The Witcher on Netflix received some unexpected news this past weekend about the show’s future. The Witcher will indeed get a fourth season, but Henry Cavill, who played Geralt of Rivia, will not. Liam Hemsworth, an actor from the Hunger Games, will take up the part. With a minimal explanation of the change in casting, both actors shared a photo of the alteration on Instagram.
It would be an understatement to say that fans were upset to learn that Henry Cavill will no longer be portraying Geralt. Others aren’t persuaded that Cavill wouldn’t find a way to make both roles work, even though some people think his return as Superman and the potential schedule issues that would result is the main reason for his departure. Fans are seeing Cavill’s affection for the role and the source material and speculating that something must be happening behind the scenes for him to take this chance to leave the program.
Henry Cavill’s love for video games and the book series that the Netflix series The Witcher is based on has been well known since the show’s debut in 2019. However, it appears that not all of the other artists working on the project are as passionate about the source material. Some of The Witcher’s writers, according to former series producer Beau DeMayo, “were not [fans] or openly loathed the books and games (even aggressively insulting the source material),” which is “a prescription for catastrophe and terrible morale,” according to DeMayo. The late hours are worthwhile because fandom serves as an ego-checking litmus test. Before you can contribute to the work’s legacy, you must appreciate it.
Given that Cavill’s co-star Freya Allan once referred to him as a “Witcher bible” on set, it seems to reason that he wouldn’t want to return to a show whose writers openly insulted the source material. Allan claimed that Cavill used his knowledge of the Witcher to offer advice while filming. He would remark, “I think it should contain this phrase, since this line is from the books,” as she describes it when they were filming a scene. He is undoubtedly a nerd, but he owns it, which is nice.
Even though showrunner Lauren Hissrich took his notes to heart for season 2 and welcomed his assistance in molding the characterization of Geralt during his season arc, it shouldn’t be up to Cavill alone to ensure that the true essence of his character is captured on screen. Henry Cavill himself has stated that he was committed to the showrunner Lauren Hissrich’s plans for seven seasons “as long as we can keep telling great stories which honor [author Andrzej] Sapkowski’s work.”
Liam Hemsworth will do quite well in the part, I have no doubt. It’s not as if he’s some unknown actor who has no idea what he’s getting himself into; he also enjoys The Witcher. It is difficult to imagine anybody else bringing the same enthusiasm and devotion to Geralt as Henry Cavill does, yet at the same time, Cavill approaches the part with such a vast understanding of and affection for the character’s narrative, mannerisms, and philosophy. It looks as though The Witcher may struggle to sustain its excellent readership over its projected seven seasons without Cavill’s influence and writers who truly care about the plot they’re creating. Who knows how long viewers will stick around without Cavill’s Geralt, according to many fans who consider him the series’ unifying force.