Fans of Netflix series “The Witcher” are unpleased with the new direction of the show, so much so that they’ve launched a petition to fire the entire writing team and bring back Henry Cavill. It was revealed last week that Cavill would be leaving the role of Geralt of Rivia for Season 4, with Liam Hemsworth taking over the role, per Forbes. That didn’t go down too well with longtime viewers.
Why is Henry Cavill leaving “The Witcher” in the first place?
Cavill has reportedly always loved the fantasy books and video games upon which “The Witcher” is based. This made him a shoe-in for playing Geralt of Rivia. He was so perfect in the role and fans loved him so much. So, why would he leave that behind?
According to Deadline, Cavill’s deal for “The Witcher” was never long-term. After three seasons of the show, he wants to focus on other projects. For instance, he’s going to be doing another Superman movie. Plus, he just announced another project called “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” In other words, it was a natural time to leave and there’s no bad blood.
Cavill said 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. In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth 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. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
Fans believe that’s not the whole truth
There have been reports over the years that Henry Cavill and the writing team of “The Witcher” often disagreed on the direction of the show. Since Cavill’s very familiar with and loyal to the source material, he’s said to have hated how much the show strayed from that, per Screenrant.
Of course, Cavilla has never spoken about this publicly and these are just rumors. However, there’s enough to them — especially considering former writer Beau DeMayo said that many of the show’s writers “actively disliked the books and games” — to make them believable.
A Change.org petition has now been launched to bring Henry Cavill back to “The Witcher”
At the time of writing, the petition already has more than 12,000 signatures from fans who support the idea of firing the entire writing team and bringing Cavill back to the role he always loved.
“Henry isn’t leaving The Witcher because of Superman, Netflix executives have once again made a grave decision against delivering for their fans. The reason why The Witcher is such a popular show is the fans’ love of the source material of books and games, that are hated by and have actively been mocked by the writers and showrunner,” the petition states. “Henry Cavill is one of those big fans, he knows all of it inside out and wanted to stay true to [fantasy writer Andrzej] Sapkowski’s world, which is why Netflix wants to replace him.”
Sadly, it seems unlikely that this petition will be successful. The recasting has been announced and Cavill seems to have moved on. It’s hard to say whether “The Witcher” can survive the change.
