As someone who has fully enjoyed the first two seasons of ‘The Witcher’, indulging in its mundane pleasures and its appreciable doses of fun in the key of epic fantasy, the announcement of Henry Cavill’s abandonment after the third season has struck me as a pitcher of cold water; and it’s hard to imagine another interpreter putting on the boots of the good guy Geralt of Rivia.
Personal issue
In addition to uttering loud lamentations, many voices were raised theorizing about The reasons that could be behind the departure of the actor from the Netflix seriesbeing among the most commented —and, a priori, logical— his commitment to DC Studios, where he will bring Superman back to life after being announced to great fanfare in the post-credits scene of ‘Black Adam’. But everything could be related to a somewhat more personal reason…
A few days ago I told you how an ex-screenwriter of ‘The Witcher’ criticized the attitude of a good part of the writers room of the Shownoting his contempt for the source material—whether it was Andrej Sapkowski’s books or CD Projekt RED video games—which eventually translated into taunts and various jokes expressed publicly and without restrictions.
As well, this lack of respect for the source, coupled with the willful deviation from it in shaping the adaptationcould be after the fright of Henry Cavill, a fan of Sapkowski’s work and a self-confessed geek, who described his participation in the series as “an extraordinary opportunity to live out my fantasies of childhood and adult life”. Come on, it’s a matter of passion and not of trade.
About a year ago, as was collected in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the British showed his commitment to the seven-season project of ‘The Witcher’ as long as a simple condition is met: I would still be Geralt “As long as we can continue to tell great stories that honor Sapkowski’s work.” Something that, seen what has been seen, seems not to be being fulfilled at all.
It will be necessary to see how events unfold in the Great N from this moment on. For now, Liam Hemsworth has been cast as Cavill’s replacement for season four onwardsbut as far as I’m concerned, there’s little point in continuing without what was undoubtedly the element that kept the magic intact in the series, no matter how many positives you can find around it.