Henry Cavill's The Witcher Exit Originated All the Way Back in Season 2
The departure of Henry Cavill from the popular Netflix's The Witcher series has prompted all sorts of speculations and conspiracy theories around the exit.
Redanian Intelligence, which is all about The Witcher franchise, has even posted a long and very detailed story looking into what could have potentially led to the exodus and how the situation developed.
The article goes as far as several years back, when the first manifestations of the eminent departure became clearly visible. According to the story, there was a leak while The Witcher Season 2 was in post-production suggesting that "recasting Geralt was a growing possibility at Netflix. "
The source allegedly said that the reason for the recasting was that Henry Cavill was considering leaving the project following Season 2 due to him and the showrunners not "seeing eye to eye" as far as the content and Geralt's role were concerned.
Still, the source had some reasonable doubts because Cavill had wanted the role so much – so why leave so early?
Redanian Intelligence also cited a report by The Hollywood Reporter, which said Cavill did in fact renew his contract for Season 3. But then all of a sudden during the Season 2 promo tour the British actor started speaking that he had been pushing for a more book-accurate Geralt in almost every interview he gave. It looked like Cavill's frustration was still there even after signing up for Season 3. But what about Season 4? It seems that Henry Cavill had chosen not to renew his contract for further seasons when it was time to do it.
But then came the Superman moment. Dwayne Johnson claimed that he and his manager Dany Garcia, who is also Henry Cavill's manager, have been desperately trying to get Cavill's Superman back in the DCEU for six years. When the old Warner Bros bosses left it was finally made possible. And citing his switch to the DC extended universe as a pretext for leaving The Witcher does not work either, because back in 2019 Cavill said he could do both.
"You've got to keep in mind that regardless of what movies I'll be doing over the next few years, you can fit two projects into one year."
So what happened?
And this is when the article drops another interesting revelation. Redanian Intelligence has noticed that during the The Witcher Season 3 filming, some members of the production team started following Liam Hemsworth on social media! So, the author believes new Geralt auditions may have taken place while Season 3 was still in production. Does it sound like a sensation?
"It's just about belief. If you believe what you're doing then you'll be able to keep on doing it. It's also important to know that if you realize you're doing the wrong thing, that's when you stop doing the wrong thing. You don't just keep on going just because. Because that leads down a dark path," Cavill told Josh Horowitz when literally no one knew he was going to leave The Witcher.
Cavill's departure poses a lot of questions, which will most likely remain unanswered in the near future. In the meantime, The Witcher fans have already launched a petition on Change.Org urging Netflix to sack its writers (who apparently made Cavill leave due to their maltreatment of Sapkowski's books) and keep Cavill as Geralt of Rivia.