Sofia Caceres October 31st, 2022 - 4:51 PM
Henry Cavill (Superman, Enola Holmes) announced via Instagram that his journey as Geralt of Rivia is coming to an end. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Liam Hemsworth (Hunger Games, Isn’t It Romantic) is set to take over the role of Geralt in season four.
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This news comes after the announcement that Cavill will return to the DC film fray as Superman after a mid-credit cameo in the Black Adam film. In The Hollywood Reporter cover story interview with Cavill, the actor said that he planned to work in The Witcher with series creator Laura Schmidt Hissrich (The Umbrella Academy, Daredevil) and try to accomplish her aim to have the show premiere at least seven seasons. He said he would keep working on The Witcher “as long as we can keep telling great stories which honor Sapkowski’s work.”
After the announcement, fans of the show started to wonder about the reason Cavill left the show. Many theories point to conflict schedules with his return as Superman or just him being tired of the strict filming schedule required for the show. According to Buzzfeed, the reason might be more personal than scheduling issues.
According to Buzzfeed, Cavill is known for loving the show’s source material, the book series written by Andrzej Sapkowski (Lady of the Lake, The Tower of Swallows), and the video game adaptations. Also, even before the show was green-lit by Netflix, Cavill would nag his agents so that he could land a meeting with the showrunner Lauren Schmidt so that he could lobby for the role of Geralt. Also, he stated in multiple interviews that he was set on doing justice to Geralt’s character arc by staying as true to the source material as he could.
His love for the world of The Witcher is also evident in the stories told by the cast and crew, who according to Buzzfeed, say that Cavill was the main source of knowledge when it came to the lore of The Witcher while on-set. One of the protagonists of the show, Freya Allan (Gunpowder Milkshake, The Third Day) who plays Princess Ciri, mentioned that while filming with Cavill he would suggest lines from the books to be used as dialogue. It is not surprising then that Sapkowski gave Cavill’s performance as Geralt his seal of approval.
But then why did Cavill leave the show he was so excited to be in? This is where the rumors about his unhappiness with the show started. According to Buzzfeed, there are rumors about some behind-the-scenes drama involving the writers of The Witcher and their open dislike of the source material and the fans of the books and video games.
According to Buzzfeed, this might have been the reason why Cavill left the series. The drama seems to have been confirmed by Beau DeMayo (Moon Knight, The Originals) who worked as a producer and writer on the show. He recently did an Instagram Q&A where he talked about the development of his new show X-Men ‘97. During the Q&A he talked about how he had been on shows where some of the writers disdained the source material and even actively mocked it, he said about The Witcher. DeMayo says that this attitude toward the source material is “a recipe for disaster” and that as a writer, one has to “respect the work before you are allowed to add to its legacy.”
With DeMayo’s comments, it is easier to understand why Cavill, a superfan of The Witcher source material, would have become increasingly frustrated with the direction the series is going and decided that the best option was to leave.
The new prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin is set to premiere during the Christmas holidays on Netflix. Seasons one and two of The Witcher are available to watch on Netflix, with season three scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2023.
