Netflix's The Witcher TV adaptation has been making the rounds ever since its inception, with season 2 becoming one of the most-viewed productions of all time on the streaming giant as early as when it was released. The Witcher is a great series to get a more diverse demographic group to watch it because it appeals to fans of the video game franchise, the book series that spans the years from 1990 to 2013, fans of fantasy fiction as a whole, and more. It does help that the lead actor for the series has been Henry Cavill so far, who is a long-time fan of the books and the games.
Cavill is known for being extremely excited about playing Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher TV show, a role he repeatedly said was a dream come true and something he would be pleased to carry on for a decade if the conditions allowed it. Unfortunately for the fans, Cavill announced that he will be stepping down as Geralt starting with season 4 of the show, which is a long time coming due to season 3 coming out sometime next year. This statement was met with a sense of loss from The Witcher fans, and many attributed it to Cavill's return as Superman in the DC universe or issues with the direction of the series based on the games, but it's far more likely that the reason lies in the novels.
Why Henry Cavill Stepping Down as Geralt Has to do With The Witcher Novels
Cavill did state in the past that he would play Geralt of Rivia for seven more seasons under certain conditions, with them mainly being that the series did a better job at following the source material from The Witcher novels. In fact, the series is based more on the books than it is on The Witcher video game series, even though Cavill is a big fan of both.
As an avid reader of the books, he has stated multiple times that he wished there was an effective way to adapt the book version of Geralt of Rivia for the show, as the novels follow The White Wolf's own thoughts and introspection. The problem is that this aspect doesn't always end up being used in the dialogues, to the point that the first season spawned plenty of memes about the titular character being grumpy and moody all the time. The book version of Geralt can be grumpy and moody too, but it's not all there is to him, and Cavill wanted that to be more visible.
Cavill made several statements in interviews about how he wanted the TV show to achieve something like this, which The Witcher games do better, and that's probably the reason why he left. He even stated that he would play the role for less money and through conflicting schedules, which means that the most likely explanation is that Cavill left The Witcher series because he disliked the source material from the showrunners. There is a reason why this could be the case, however, as the writers for the series are allegedly people who don't enjoy the books in the slightest based on what a former writer said.
The fact that The Witcher's writers' room mocks the books has also been shared across social media, to the point that some fans believe that Cavill could even start his own take on the series as a producer. While this is not unlikely to happen in the future, it's also worth checking out season 3 of the series when it becomes available next year, as that might provide more context into Cavill's recasting. Some fans are also not pleased about Liam Hemsworth picking up the sword as Geralt of Rivia in the future, but with a less conflicting vision on the material this could still be a great choice.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions expected to launch later this year.