While this website is dedicated to DC Comics and, most precisely, to the Batmanverse, I believe this black cloud over our heads needs addressing. So, here are the thoughts of a Netflix Witcher fan regarding Cavill’s departure.
The Official Summary Of Netflix The Witcher
The Witcher is a fantasy drama web television series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich for Netflix. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
The Witcher follows the story of Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter who struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than monsters and beasts.
But when destiny hurtles him toward a powerful sorceress and a young princess with a special gift, the three must learn to navigate independently the increasingly volatile Continent.
The Guaranteed Seven Seasons Of The Witcher
You know the saying: when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Well, that’s what we were handed by Netflix and, sadly, Henry Cavill. The hopes were high for the epic dark fantasy, The Witcher series.
When the first season of The Witcher hit our screen on Netflix, it had many of us glued to it. The work impressed us. I’m not talking about Geralt alone, but the scenery, the clothing, the script, the delivery, the acting, the fights, everything was stunning.
It was evident that the crew put together to make The Witcher possible knew what they wanted. As an extra treat on top of this mountain of geekiness, we had Cavill, who is a long-time fan of the books and video game franchise, almost guaranteed the proper story.
After the first season’s success, Netflix guaranteed seven seasons to come to complete the story of the book franchise. It was a no-brainer. We all thought Henry Cavill would stick to his word and present us with a fantastic representation of a nerdy fandom. After all, he said he was a geek himself, so all is good, right? No, life happens, and s*it often hits the fan.
Seven seasons is still the plan, but our Witcher…not so much.
Insert All The Sins And All The Clichés
When the second season finally came out, The Witcher‘s pacing slowed down and dragged a little. What made the first season so vibrant was now crawling, and some plot points could have been more captivating.
I am comparing Lord of the Rings to The Witcher for fantasy and epic purposes. We know from Lord of the Rings that adapting an epic fantasy universe into a theatrical masterpiece is one of the hardest things. You can’t please everyone and mistakes happen.
Translating novels into live action is hard. Chapters must be cut, and some characters must be left behind. Some things on paper read well and can be effortlessly enchanting, but on screen can drag and slow the story’s pace.
The second season tried too hard to have us attach ourselves to certain characters but missed the mark. The only two stories I enjoyed were far apart, and to be completely honest, I cared little for Ciri‘s training.
ALL THE CLICHÉS: The little girl is trying to impress her mentor too soon. Insert the cliché of the little girl trying to prove to herself that she’s better than the boys. Insert cliché of the little girl completing training parkour that makes no sense.
The Cliché As Old As Time – The Sexes
Now, why am I saying the training parkour makes no sense? Because nobody in their right mind would train warriors or assassins to ensure wounds that would take months to heal. Suitable for reading, not practical. It could be the history nerd in me talking.
The logic doesn’t follow. It reads well in books or, as shown in Assassin’s Creed, but not on the screen. Also, it was just a dump of clichés that had me livid. It almost read like a battle of the sexes, and I found it useless.
Really, insert all the clichés about men making fun of the little girl, trying to be as good as the men. Cliché of the little girl that will get all the wounds possible to prove she can be better than all the men? It was in there too!
ENOUGH WITH SEXIST BATTLES!
It’s not empowering for girls or women to see Ciri win after ten concussions! It doesn’t make the men look good to approve of her, only when she gets closer to her goal but bruised all over either. Also, where’s the mentor to put an end to it instead of standing there letting her give birth to her guts and organs?
Anyway, moving along!
Why Not Rub Salt Into Our Open Wounds?
I was not expecting such a cliché dump into the second season. So, when it hit the screen, it surprised me, and I felt like the show had let me down. It didn’t help advance the story; instead, it dragged it and added fluff. I thought we were past the battle of the sexes in such a big series production.
There was no bonding between Geralt and Ciri following it. Nothing came out of it. It’s not like Ciri was much better than she was before. It was just…there. “Why? Because f*ck you, that’s why,” pardon my Cinemasins!
I was expecting more extreme fantasy choreographies, but alas, it was not meant to be. I was anticipating more fight scenes, especially sword fights. Cavill proved his skills in the first season with the best epic fantasy sword fight I have seen so far on the small or big screen!
Don’t get me wrong, there are fights, but I couldn’t care less about the other brotherhood guy at the back on the left fighting for his life. I want to see prominent people. I want to see Geralt fight. He’s the face of the franchise, isn’t he?
There is an amalgam of politics, other species moving in and taking more space, and we finally get our bard, Jaskier, back along with Yennefer. But the second season was a slow, dragging season about Ciri’s training in everything! Even Geralt is not as present.
It was just too much at once to believe that the poor girl had to know everything in a short amount of time. It translated as spreading Ciri too thin and making her kind of annoying.
After that second season still hit number one on Netflix and was a success in itself, Cavill made an announcement. He spoke in a video confirming the third season’s release in the summer of 2023. Yay! Nah. It took a long time for us to know what was happening to our Witcher.
Season One Perfect – Season 2 Meh – Season 3 Better Have More Fights!
With how things ended in the second season, my hopes for a much more action-oriented season are high. I want more out of specific characters that were so fascinating in the first season but almost tossed aside in the second one. I am hoping to be compensated. Haha!
So, the hopes are high. The fandom of the Netflix show is giggling and counting the days until the third season, and a bomb drops. I am so happy that Cavill is Superman again, and I highly doubt Man of Steel is why that news hit the fandom hard earlier this week. It’s not chronologically logical.
The Witcher has three fandoms, like Assassin’s Creed, Halo, Arkham, and other video game franchises. You have the book fandom, the video game fandom, and the television/ movie fandom.
One is not a less passionate fan than the other. We are all equals and should not denigrate one another, either. That’s the reason for my article, denigration.
The fans of the Netflix series wait long between seasons to enjoy the next step in Geralt’s journey. Sure, some will read the books because they want to know what comes next, but we all know how that ends…True Blood fans know…they are moving away from the storyline.
But still, we’re here to see it and give a fair chance to the story to keep going because we love those characters! We laugh, cry, and hurt with them. A series becomes part of your life and almost turns into a family member that just walked in and made itself comfortable. So, the news hit hard!
So, We Toss A Coin Or A Freaking Anvil At Our Witcher?
DO NOT TOSS ANYTHING AT CAVILL! He left for a few reasons. I’ll explain soon!
Before the hate starts, let’s talk about the fandom itself because The Witcher‘s fandom does not differ from the others I mentioned. Many fandoms are toxic because three categories of fans fight against one another.
I’m an obsessive Batman fan. So many comic books I read that I lost count. It doesn’t matter if it’s cartoons, animated movies, or live-action movies and series. Many laughed at me when I admitted I enjoyed The New 52 more than most other titles.
However, I saw the toxicity in the fandom and left. I’m still a fan, a Batmanologist if you will, but on my own. Also, I’m old enough to brush it off and move on.
The Witcher suffers the same fate. We have the fans of the books fighting with the Netflix series and criticizing what is happening, and that’s without mentioning the gamers. A fandom is a fandom. Nothing more. It’s there for entertainment and enjoyment. The story doesn’t follow the book series. Well, suck it up, buttercup, because that’s the story of all book adaptations.
But when Cavill announced his departure from The Witcher, that blow, nobody was ready for it, and it knocked us all on our asses. We’re not talking about one fandom over another. We’re talking about the one nerd who made The Witcher possible.
So, what in the ever-loving hell happened? Days ago, Cavill said, yay, the third season will be released in the summer of 2023! Then, yay, he’s Superman again. Then, leaving The Witcher.
Well, That Took An Obscure And Strange Turn
As much as I enjoy imagining Henry Cavill walking toward the people responsible for the Netflix show and taking a seat, looking them in the eyes and saying, “This thing we have here is not working. It’s not you. It’s me.” Netflix replies, “It’s okay. We understand. We’ve been cheating on you with Liam Hemsworth all along, anyway.” I doubt that’s what happened.
In the entertainment industry, in front or behind the cameras, a lot of drama is happening. If you want the truth, high school is never over! We’re all in high school for the rest of our lives, with clicks and popular and reject tables.
It’s a fact. It doesn’t matter where you work. So, I doubt we will ever know the truth behind the curtains. We will only get a professional statement often rehearsed by both parties, Cavill and Netflix. After all, I believe he plays Sherlock Holmes too for the Enola Holmes Netflix Originals.
We might never know the whole story of everything unrivaled between Cavill and the producers of The Witcher. However, we know it didn’t happen overnight. One doesn’t just have a backup for the main character lying around. It has been a long time coming.
The Witcher Will Never Ever Be The Same
Liam Hemsworth is a fine actor with good looks, and I am sure he can deliver what he is asked to. But we are talking about the face of the series leaving. The main character of an entire franchise is leaving. This is dividing the fandom into many pieces.
Some are okay with whatever happens because they aren’t watching because or for Cavill, but rather the story itself. Some of us counted on Cavill to maintain the story we grew up with in line and be the nerd he is while portraying the best Geralt ever.
Adding to this, we have those making fun of us for liking Cavill as Geralt only because he’s good-looking—this is not logical. We like Cavill as Geralt because he was born for that role. He’s a fan of the franchise. If we only liked his looks, we wouldn’t complain about Liam Hemsworth.
The Witcher fandom is still suffering from the repercussions of the news. We all want someone to blame, but the truth is, that’s life! It’s a series of unfortunate events! Nah, let’s not get overboard. The series won’t be the same, but we can give Liam a chance. I’m just sad about the fandom dividing itself and anger taking over.
Broken Hearts And Sad Words From Our Witcher
Well, I said not to throw an anvil at our Witcher. That’s because some news about the series came out of Cavill’s mouth.
“The toughest part for me was finding that balance between the showrunners’ vision and my love for the books and trying to bring that Geralt to the showrunners’ vision,” Cavill said. “It’s about treading a fine line there. It’s the showrunners’ story, and so it’s an adaptation. The tricky bit for me was finding Geralt from the books’ place within that. And being able to serve both as much as I could. The things that I pushed for it were not necessarily just more dialogue. It was bringing a more book-accurate Geralt to the screen…All of my asks and requests were along the lines of just being faithful to the source material.”
Henry Cavill
That is quite sad when seeing someone with such influence on the entertainment industry not succeed at making the people in charge know that they were drifting too far from what made The Witcher special.
Cavill was only trying to bring life to a character. One that was so dear to his heart and of many. Cavill gave Geralt a soul and a personality that nobody, as talented as they could be, could recreate.
Henry Cavill is a nerd like some of us because that’s what most of us would do. It doesn’t matter how much you want to make yourself believe it’s ‘an alternate universe’ when the magic is gone. It’s more painful then it should be. We all have our limits, and Cavill reached his.
It’s not for lack of trying, though. Cavill tried to let the people in charge know they were heading too far from the original story. He spoke up about the material and what was happening. He even showed his discontentment with the second season.
I’m happy because that second season was…damn, not that great! I’m relieved I wasn’t alone in thinking so. After all, the leading actor wasn’t happy about it either!
Is The Third Season The Last We’ll See Of Cavill As Geralt?
That is a tricky question with a tricky answer: only time will tell?
There is an official petition to bring Henry Cavill back as The Witcher. I rarely participate in those, but it worked for the Lucifer series. When Lucifer transferred from Fox to Netflix, we were to receive one season from Netflix and with a petition, we got our Lucifer back for two extra seasons.
With that said, this petition may warm Cavill’s heart and have the people responsible for The Witcher at Netflix reconsider their decision. Maybe they will listen to The Official Witcher Nerd and let him help.
In the meantime, we have a third season to look forward to and a petition to sign. So, please, stop saying it’s Superman’s fault. It’s not. We all knew Cavill was a fan of The Witcher. We just didn’t think it was a story this close to his heart.
No matter what, we will either keep watching, or it’ll be the end of a very short era for The Witcher for some of us.
Gotham Daily 