Was There Behind-the-Scenes Drama That Led to Cavill's The Witcher Exit?
The Witcher fandom was shocked on Saturday afternoon after Netflix made its explosive announcement that Henry Cavill will be leaving The Witcher series following the upcoming Season 3 with Liam Hemsworth taking over in Season 4.
In an article published by Forbes on Sunday, October 30, Paul Tassi dwells upon what could have caused Cavill's exit from the franchise. The Forbes senior contributor believes there could be something more behind the network's announcement than the simple fact that Geralt from Rivia would be back to starring as Superman ( with a bigger paycheck) in the DCEU and he couldn't do both – as it is not impossible for actors "to juggle a TV show with movies."
Paul Tassi has recalled Cavill's interview with Hardware Zone where the actor mentioned that he wouldn't mind The Witcher to be closer to the source material.
"I wanted the character to have a closer relationship to the character in the books, I wanted him to be more book accurate. And so, it was more to do with making sure and campaigning for him to sound more intellectual, more philosophical, and to have an emotional side as well, rather than just be a grumpy snowman. Every day I was pushing this stuff as far as prep goes…," Cavill said.
There's also another factor to be taken into account – the recent statement by The Witcher's ex-producer Beau DeMayo, who said that some writers on the series' production team "actively disliked the books and the games even actively mocking the source material".
The question now is will the show survive after Henry Cavill leaves it? The Netflix 's Saturday statement left the series' fans totally heartbroken. After all, everybody agrees that Cavill was a perfect fit for the role of Geralt from Rivia. Most of the comments on reddit praised Cavill as the only person on the team who really cared about the show.
"He was the only one who cared about The Witcher lore and being true to it. I remember reports he was constantly arguing with the directors over things Geralt would or wouldn't do," said a redditor under the WolfGangSwizle nickname.
Others believe this is happening way too much lately. One of the users recalled the new Star Wars trilogy, where as they see "a bunch of actors all passionate about the content getting their dream roles only to find out the entire crew and studio are utterly incompetent." Grumpy as always.
The amount of love Henry Cavill brought to the show was exactly what made it enjoyable and he will surely be missed by The Witcher's fans. The departure of the main actor can also potentially to not only not pull its weight in terms of driving subscriptions and views, but totally the opposite – causing people to cancel their Netflix subscriptions out of sheer annoyance.
One of the redditors was so sad with the news that they said that following Cavill's departure the show can't continue.
Season 3 of The Witcher is in post-production and is expected to be released in summer 2023. The live-action prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin is set for a Christmas 2022 release.