How Henry Cavill’s final scene in The Witcher was (reportedly) changed

The Witcher season 3 is at an end, and so is Henry Cavill’s time as Geralt of Rivia. For three seasons we’ve watched the actor bring the White Wolf to life onscreen. Whatever other issues people have had with The Witcher over the years, Cavill’s performance has remained one of the most universally praised aspects of the series.

When last we see Geralt in The Witcher season 3, he’s leading his horse into the distance alongside his companions Jaskier (Joey Batey) and Milva (Meng’er Zhang) after slaughtering a bunch of Nilfgaardian soldiers who were terrorizing the local populace. It’s a big moment for Geralt, showing that he’s finally leaving his neutrality behind to wage a personal war against Nilfgaard in order to save his foster daughter Ciri (Freya Allan), who he believes is in the custody of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis (Bart Edwards).

But apparently, his final scene was meant to play out a bit differently. Read on for details, which contain SPOILERS for The Witcher show and books.

Cahir was originally going to appear at the end of The Witcher season 3

Reliable fansite Redanian Intelligence reports that originally, this final scene with Cavill featured another character: Cahir, the disgraced Nilfgaardian officer played by Eamon Farren. Cahir played a pivotal part in this season’s Thanedd coup, where he finally made peace with Princess Cirilla after years of hunting her.

Back when The Witcher season 3 first started filming in Spring 2022, RI heard from their sources that after Geralt and Milva walked away from the Nilfgaardian checkpoint, “Cahir was watching them from afar.”

During the book that will form the basis for season 4, Baptism of Fire, Cahir eventually joins Geralt’s band of traveling companions, known as his hansa. Including the Nilfgaardian at the end of season 3 would have foreshadowed this. Instead, we don’t see him again after Thanedd, where he remains behind to fight off the Scoia’tael and buy Ciri time to escape.

Holding back on reintroducing Cahir is more accurate to The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Early on in Baptism of Fire, Geralt and company accidentally rescue Cahir from the Scoia’tael, who are transporting the former army officer back to Nilfgaard to answer for his betrayal. He then follows Geralt’s hansa as RI describes, watching them from afar for a while before Geralt allows him to officially join up.

It’s unknown whether The Witcher ever filmed this final scene with Cahir. For my money, leaving it out was a good choice. Holding Cahir’s return for season 4 will allow it to be a bigger moment, and keeps the focus on Geralt during Cavill’s final scene of the series.

All eight episodes of The Witcher season 3 are streaming now on Netflix. Season 4 is expected to start filming sometime in early 2024.

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