Henry Cavill is leaving The Witcher – but why?
The Netflix adaptation of The Witcher was met with near universal acclaim when the first season released, and those who perhaps weren’t fond of the series at least could agree with this one statement: Henry Cavill is the perfect Geralt, and as such, is the heart of The Witcher.
So when Netflix announced last Saturday that Cavill would be stepping down from his role in Season 4, leaving the role of Geralt in the hands of Liam Hemsworth, the internet immediately reacted in the most negative way you could imagine. Part of us understands why: Henry Cavill nailed Geralt’s mannerisms so well, in such a succint way, that it’s hard to imagine anyone replacing him in The Witcher. And that’s no shade at Hemsworth, who we don’t doubt already felt the struggle of having to fill Cavill’s boots long before the internet got around to finding out about the news.
“While The Witcher Season 3 hasn’t debuted yet, it has already been renewed for a fourth season — but there’s a change coming.” Netflix explained via its blog on Saturday. “In Season 4, Liam Hemsworth will step in as the titular monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia, the role Henry Cavill originated in the first three seasons.”
Cavill had words of wisdom to share with Hemsworth, stating “Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
While Cavill passing over the torch to Hemsworth seems amicable enough, it hasn’t stopped fans from around the world wondering why he is leaving The Witcher in the first place. Cavill wasn’t just an actor doing his job, having expressed multiple times how much he loves the series as a whole, and how much he has pushed to have Geralt express himself in a way that feels authentic to the source material. His co-stars even expressed how much Cavill knew about the books, describing him as a ‘Witcher bible‘. With all this in mind, its clear Cavill cares deeply about his role as Geralt.
The reason for why hasn’t been clarified by Netflix or The Witcher production, but fans already have their theories. The first is that with Henry Cavill finally returning to the DCEU as Superman – another role that many have described him as being ‘perfect’ for – there simply wasn’t enough time to continue as Geralt. Scheduling issues wouldn’t be the first time an actor has dropped out of a role, after all.
Of course some fans have other theories, namely that Cavill was far from impressed with the production behind the Netflix adaptation. And it does seem as though there was some behind-the-scenes drama, with Beau DeMayo – a former producer on The Witcher – stating that there were some writers involved who disliked the source material and actively mocked it.
Ultimately we won’t know the full reason behind Henry Cavill leaving The Witcher unless he reveals why himself, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating. What we do know, however, is this: The Witcher won’t be the same after Season 3.
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