Let’s Review the Rumored Reasons Henry Cavill Is Leaving ‘The Witcher’ After This Season
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While news that The Witcher successfully wrapped season 3 sparks immense joy, we are still reeling over the announcement of Henry Cavill's departure on the show. Over the years, the actor has quite literally led the series, playing the titular role of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter with supernatural abilities (aka a Witcher).
Back in October 2022, Henry announced his decision to leave the show, saying in a statement, “My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for season 4.”
The actor also gave some insight into who his replacement on The Witcher is moving forward....👀
Enter: Liam Hemsworth, who, according to Henry, “will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men.”
While we're still counting our lucky stars that the head honchos over at Netflix are committed to continuing the franchise, we are human (read: nosy) and still want to know the reason behind Henry's decision to leave. And the fact that you're reading this suggests you do, too—we don't make the rules! So let's get into suspicions after tons of snooping, shall we? Starting with the rumor that....
There may have been ~creative differences~
Henry and the writers having low-key different visions for the show is hardly news. In fact, the actor has expressed how much he loved the original source material since he's an avid gamer (like, he legit built his own gaming computer kinda avid gamer).
On the other hand, Beau DeMayo—a former producer and writer on The Witcher—has gone on the record and dished that some writers on the series “actively disliked” both Andrzej Sapkowski's books and CD Projekt Red's games. Showrunner Lauren D. Hissrich has also said she tries not to hire writers who are purists of the source material.
“When you write an adaptation, you have to be familiar with the original work. Yes. Of course. The writers and staff on The Witcher had to read all of the books, and had to appreciate/enjoy the genre. But I specifically didn’t seek out ten Sapkowski scholars,” she said in an interview with Redanian Intelligence. “In simplest form, we need writers fighting for the spirit of the books, and the intention of the author. And also writers who know that novels can’t be a 1:1 adaptation to tv, because characters can’t speak for hours on end without interruption (lookin at you Geralt and Iola),” she added.
Fans saw these nuances come to light ahead of the release of season 2, when Lauren revealed Henry had sent her notes about Geralt’s dialogue. “A lot of the notes he was sending to me were about Geralt’s dialogue—could he, first of all, say more,” the showrunner told The Hollywood Reporter. “Everybody came out of season 1 laughing and loving Geralt’s fuming. But Henry was saying that when you read the books you spend a lot of time in Geralt’s head. So how can we put that on the page?”
In a subsequent convo with Philstar, the actor elaborated on the sitch, revealing, “It’s important for me to have the character be three-dimensional. And it’s tricky to do, as I was saying earlier, because there’s a certain vision and there’s a certain set storyline and plot. And so, it was about me trying to find Geralt’s place within that. All of my asks and requests were along the lines of just being faithful to the source material.”
People speculated about scheduling conflicts at play
Another rumor surrounding Henry's departure from The Witcher has to do with yet another iconic character he plays: Superman. But that was swiftly debunked.
Essentially, fans initially speculated the actor was leaving the series to focus on the DCU, but that theory was thrown out after James Gunn—director of the Guardians of the Galaxy series, the new head of DC Studios under Warner Bros., *and* the director of Superman: Legacy —spoke about the matter and said, “Among those on the slate is Superman. In the initial stages, our story will be focusing on an earlier part of Superman’s life, so the character will not be played by Henry Cavill.”
The good news, though? According to that same interview with James, he and Henry “talked about a number of exciting possibilities to work together in the future.” Maybe that's the reason for Henry's departure? 👀 Even so, our fingers are crossed for more DCU x Henry projects!
What have other cast-members said about Henry's Witcher exit?
Henry's Witcher cast-mates have not only spoken up about the recasting, but they've also admitted they weren't aware season 3 was the actor's last when they were filming.
In an interview with Radio Times (via Fandom Wire), Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, and Joey Batey were asked what it felt like to say goodbye to Henry and whether they'd spoken to Liam, his replacement. Of the three, only Allan answered and explained, “It was quite a few months after wrapping, it was a surprise to us all, but now we are all celebrating the work that we have all put in together for season 3 and really shedding light on that hard work and trying to focus on that and move forward with that and focus on what’s ahead, and I think it will be exciting to see Liam’s interpretation.”
Lauren also gave her two cents about the matter and recalled not knowing whether to continue the show without Henry's character or whether to recast him entirely when speaking with Games Radar. The showrunner ended up making the latter move and mused, “There’s just too many stories left to tell...If we replaced Geralt with another Witcher, we would be going fully away from the books, and I don’t think that’s what anyone wanted either.”
As for her feelings on Liam ushering in a new era for The Witcher, she gushed, “He’s got enormous shoes to fill, but also has a lot of energy and a lot of excitement for it. It’s obviously a brand-new chapter for us. And there’s a lot of feelings involved. But at the end of the day, we love what we’re doing. So we’re gonna keep going.”
And there you have it, folks!
WATCH 'THE WITCHER' ON NETFLIX HERE
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