After over a month after Henry Cavill announced his departure from Netflix's The Witcher and the fan backlash arose, showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich has addressed the news, admitting that it will be a massive change, but urging audiences to continue watching.
In an interview with TechRadar, Hissrich discussed the negative response from fans, stating, "It's a big deal for us, too... And that's the thing – there's a lot of talk and rumors about and we fully understand why fans are going there." She continued, "What I will say is please come back for The Witcher season three so that we can continue to do this. Obviously, that [Cavill's departure] is huge news. But what I don't want to do is – this has to stay about Blood Origin, Declan [de Barra, Blood Origin's showrunner], the cast, and the crew. This is their time in the spotlight."
What's Behind The Witcher Backlash?
Cavill announced he would no longer be playing Geralt of Rivia on Oct. 29, following the release of The Witcher Season 3. From Season 4 onwards, the titular monster slayer will be played by actor Liam Hemsworth. Immediately after the news, numerous surveys and petitions were launched, indicating many viewers intend to stop watching after Cavill leaves. One petition launched by fans goes so far as to call for Netflix to fire the writers and bring Cavill back. At the time of writing, the petition has gained over 275,000 signatures. It's uncertain how significantly this will impact the show's viewership, if at all.
Many speculate that Cavill left due to the direction of the series and its deviation from Andrzej Sapkowski's novels, as he has been shown to be a passionate fan of both the novels and CD Projekt Red's video games. While the reasons behind his exit have not been confirmed, reports have emerged suggesting the actor did indeed have creative disagreements with the show's producers and that there was talk of recasting the role as far back as Season 2's post-production stage.
Further fueling the backlash is an earlier statement by former Witcher writer Beau DeMayo, who claimed that certain members of the show's writers' room actively disliked the books and games and even mocked them. DeMayo wrote two episodes of The Witcher Season 1 and helmed the anime spinoff film, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf.
The backlash comes at a time when Netflix is seemingly expanding the popular franchise, rebranding it as "The World of The Witcher" to include the core series and its many spinoffs, several currently in development. These include the previously mentioned anime film, as well as the upcoming prequel series, The Witcher: Blood Origin. There is a second anime project currently in development, tentatively titled The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep. The project does not yet have a release date. Blood Origin, however, is scheduled to hit screens on Dec. 25.
The Witcher Season 3 is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2023.
Source: TechRadar