Has Netflix and The Witcher showrunner lost their minds? Netflix has announced that Henry Cavil is LEAVING The Witcher and his role as Geralt of Rivia after Season 3 in the wake of the show’s departures from the source material.
This is the most devasting loss The Witcher and Netflix could have imagined. Not only is Henry Cavil a huge Hollywood star and is more than capable of leading a movie/T.V. series in his own right, but Cavil also brought a tremendous amount of credibility and respect to the role of Geralt of Rivia.
There have been very few actors in the history of television, let alone the fantasy genre, who have embodied a character as well as Henry Cavil has with Geralt. Henry Cavil is Geralt of Rivia.
Yet, he won’t be The White Wolf any longer as Netflix has announced that Liam Hemsworth (the younger brother to Chris Hemsworth) will be stepping in and taking the mantle from Cavil for Season 4 and beyond. First off, let me just say that it’s going to be super jarring to see someone else as Geralt of Rivia for Season 4.
It’s already difficult enough to recast small, secondary characters mid-way through a show and not have it seem jarring.
How is the recasting of THE TITULAR CHARACTER of this entire franchise not going to throw off audiences and mess with the on-screen chemistry the first two seasons of The Witcher has already established? We’ve already watched over twenty hours of Henry Cavil’s Geralt of Rivia, Freya Allen’s Ciri, and Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer of Vengerberg getting to know each other and form some chemistry.
(Netflix-The Witcher-Season 1 Main Trailer)
Now, all of that is going to be erased as Liam Hemsworth and his version of Geralt will have to form completely new bonds (in terms of chemistry and familiarity) with Allen and Chalotra’s, respective, characters. I just don’t see how this is going to work in the long run.
What I also don’t see working in the long run is the story of The Witcher itself.
Simply put, The Witcher story from the T.V. series and The Witcher story (aka: Blood of Elves, Time of Contempt, etc.) from the novels are two entirely different entities. Aside from the names of the characters and their relationships with one another (for the most part), there’s absolutely zero similarities between The Witcher T.V. show and the Andrzej Sapkowski novels. And that’s not a good thing.
The Witcher Season 2 was filled with plot contrivances, weird story arcs, dumb character decisions by the writers, and beyond frustrating plot twists that not only have nothing to do with the novels they are supposed to be adapting, but also are laughably bad in practice.
I mean, who thought it was a good idea to have Ciri MURDER nearly every single Witcher in Kaer Morhen? Or what about Vesemir and Triss Merigold trying to turn Ciri into a Witcher that might kill her? Or how about Geralt having to kill Eskel because he turned into a leshen? That’s not even possible in the universe.
I could honestly go on forever with these dumb decisions, but I don’t need too as it seems Henry Cavil has already had enough. It was already revealed a few days ago by Beau DeMayo, one of the show’s producers and writers and wrote for the Vesemir anime (The Night of the Wolf), said that many of the writers of the show “actively disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material),” which is obviously a huge problem.
You can’t have people writing an adaption for a novel series and game series that they hate and mock openly. It’s super disrespectful to the rest of the cast and crew trying to make this show as great as possible and to the fans of said show/franchise. I don’t know how Netflix even allowed such an egregious mistake to happen in the first place if DeMayo’s claims (which I wholeheartedly believe) are true.
And it’s no wonder Henry Cavil, who is a huge fan of the Witcher games and Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, couldn’t stand the abuse and mistreatment Geralt was receiving from the writers any longer.
I know I wouldn’t be able to stomach listening to people, who were hired to write and adapt the works of a man whose novels have inspired millions and millions of fans around the world, actively mock and belittle said work and replace it with horrifically worse material.
(Netflix-The Witcher-Season 1 Main Trailer)
So, at the end of the day, I don’t blame Cavil for leaving. He tried his best to work with these hacks over at Netflix, but even a star of his power couldn’t stop these writers from ruining Geralt and the world of the Witcher. I wish Liam Hemsworth the best, but I think this role is a poisoned pill while these writers are still behind the scenes.
In light of this news, I’d guarantee that The Witcher will be canceled after its 5th season, and it’ll be lucky to even make it out of Season 4 (which is already greenlight) unscathed.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Netflix) (THE WITCHER | MAIN TRAILER | NETFLIX – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Netflix) (THE WITCHER | MAIN TRAILER | NETFLIX – YouTube)
In Text Image 2: (Netflix) (THE WITCHER | MAIN TRAILER | NETFLIX – YouTube)
