It was just a little over a month ago that those with a Netflix subscription who adore watching Henry Cavill’s Geralt grunt his way through learning to be a father figure to Ciri got a huge shock. The actor, who had recently been reinstated as DC’s big screen Superman, released a statement noting that the upcoming The Witcher Season 3 would be his last time in the white wig, and officially handed his duties off to Liam Hemsworth, his replacement. Fans were angry enough to start a petition, and now the showrunner has finally responded.
What Did The Witcher’s Showrunner Say About Henry Cavill Leaving The Series?
With several weeks of rumors floating around about why he left, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich spoke to our sister site, TechRadar, at the UK junket for The Witcher: Blood Origin, the show’s first live action spinoff, which debuts later this month. When asked about the outpouring of fan negativity, she said:
It's a big deal for us, too. And that's the thing – there's a lot of talk and rumors about, and we fully understand why fans are going there. What I will say is please come back for The Witcher Season 3 so that we can continue to do this. Obviously, that [Cavill's departure] is huge news.
Viewer outrage and confusion began immediately after the news of Hemsworth taking over as Geralt in Season 4 was announced. People openly wondered about the reasoning behind the seemingly sudden departure, noting how Cavill had lobbied so hard to play Geralt in the first place and always talked about how big of a fan he was of the books the show is based on (along with loving the video games).
Some of the rumors pointed to how Cavill would speak openly about wanting to stick to the books as much as possible even as the fantasy series tried to find its own way forward with the material. By the time word came out about him saying goodbye to the drama after the third season (which finished filming by mid-September 2022), though, we’d already gotten word from a former producer on The Witcher, Beau DeMayo, who revealed his thoughts that many of the writers “actively disliked the books and games” to the point of “actively mocking the source material.”
Cavill’s fandom and desire to stay true to the books, combined with DeMayo’s words, has led many to believe that the star simply saw the writing on the wall, realized that the show would never be what he’d hoped, and cut his losses by finally severing ties with the action-packed show. That fan petition, which still has people signing and is currently past 277,800 supporters, actually calls for the show to fire the writers and find a way to bring the Geralt we already know back on board.
Though we still have Season 3 of The Witcher to look forward to when it comes to more of Cavill’s work as lead, Schmidt Hissrich is trying to keep viewers on board as much as possible, even while understanding their anger. She told IGN that she was “really excited” about the fact that “we get new energy and chemistry that we haven’t discovered yet” with the recasting, and here’s hoping that fans (eventually) feel the same way.
