Well, the time that many of us with a Netflix subscription have been looking forward to for nearly two years is almost here, as June 29 will see The Witcher return to the streamer. Though there are, of course, many reasons why fans are eager to pick back up with the tale of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer, a big one is that the upcoming The Witcher Season 3 will be Henry Cavill’s last leading the fantasy hit. We all want to know what his last act as Geralt will be, and while the executive producers talked about Cavill having a “strong” exit, I’m actually now a bit worried about it.
What Did The Witcher’s Exec Producers Say About Henry Cavill’s Last Season As Geralt?
Those who work behind the scenes on the series have had a lot to do over the past several months, especially when it comes to convincing viewers to stick around for The Witcher Season 4, which will see Liam Hemsworth take over as the White Wolf. In chatting with Yahoo UK recently, executive producers Steve Gaub and Tomek Bagiński opened up about the transition and how we’ll see Cavill leave the series, with Gaub saying:
It's a very strong season for Henry, a great final run for him as Geralt. I think the most important thing for us was to make sure he was very proud of those last [scenes], invariably those last moments are the ones you leave an audience with, and those last couple episodes are very strong episodes for him. I think he left with his head held high.
Fans were start-a-petition angry about the Geralt change, and while the showrunner admitted that it’s also “a big deal” for everyone at the show, she also promised a “heroic sendoff” for the man who brought the character into live action. There have been rumors that his departure was precipitated by a general lack of writer respect for The Witcher books, so, hopefully, this season really will see him living out the version of Geralt he’s wanted to portray all along, and he left with a clear conscience, knowing he’d wrapped his time there in as “strong” a way as possible for himself, and the fans. Bagiński added:
It was a great journey to have Henry Cavill on this show and we will miss him. But, at the same time, we have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam...it's also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five. It's very lore accurate. It's very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless.
And now I’m worried.
Why What The Witcher’s Exec Producer Said About Transitioning From Cavill To Hemsworth Has Me Worried
Alright, for full disclosure, I am not an O.G. Witcher fan. Meaning, before watching the show upon its debut in late 2019, I had never read the books or even played any of the video games. So, I have no attachment to the story as it’s been told before, though I completely understand the desire of long-time fans for what’s seen on the show to hew closely to the tales in the books.
I’m also not one of the fans who’s only stuck with the show for Cavill, so whatever his reasons for moving on, I’m simply intrigued by the prospect of watching Hemsworth in the role after Season 3. On its face, I love the idea of the transition being “flawless,” but all this talk of the switch using “meta ideas” from the books and being “lore accurate” seems off.
Obviously, this change in one of the three main actors wasn’t something that was planned previously, and there’s been no hint from anyone involved with the show before now that there were any big meta moments in the source material which would lead to actual major physical changes for Geralt that would necessitate a different actor.
In fact, after doing some searching to see what Bagiński could be referring to, I came upon an article which confirmed my suspicion that nothing in the books leads to a physical transformation for our favorite monster hunter. The EP could just mean that Geralt will fully give up the idea of political neutrality so that he can totally protect/train Ciri, but that’s not something that naturally leads to an explanation of why he’ll look different beyond Season 3.
Also, I don’t think any show fans who plan to stick with it really need such an explanation. We all know Cavill’s done, and we’re smart enough to just ride the wave of having Hemsworth as Geralt when the fourth season picks up, no special reasoning needed. What worries me is that, if there really isn’t anything in particular in the books that makes the actor switch understandable, why force such a thing, when we don’t need it at all?
If they don’t trust the audience to accept the change (which isn’t impossible, as fans have definitely been threatening to stop watching or even cancel Netflix in anger after Season 3), making story alterations that take us even further away from the books for the fourth season could easily affect the series in a negative way. They’re already at risk of losing their audience, as many kept watching despite changes from the books because of Cavill, so having Hemsworth leading us through a tale that continues to take us away from those stories is likely to make any remaining book fans flee, meaning we might only get one more season.
Plus, honestly, these supposed “deeply embedded” book ideas sound like they could be rather convoluted, and we finally have two seasons where Geralt, Yen, and Ciri are all in the same timeline and together for the most part. No one wants to go back to confusing Witcher stories, OK?
I truly have no clue what’s to come in Season 3 or any potential future seasons, but I think we all want it to be a fun, thrilling, totally watchable viewing experience. So, here’s hoping that whatever they come up with, it hits that mark.
