The Witcher fans were in for a major shock last October when it was announced that star Henry Cavill would be departing the series and that he’d be replaced by actor Liam Hemsworth come season 4. It was no secret Cavill was unhappy with the way the Netflix Original show had deviated from the source material, the fantasy novels and short stories written by Andrzej Sapkowski, but I don’t think anyone expected him to be replaced. Season 3 marked Cavill’s final appearance as monster hunter Geralt of Rivia, a role he once begged to play.
It’s been over a year since we heard the news, and you’d expect The Witcher fans would gradually end their grieving phase and begin to accept reality. Well, apparently that’s not the case. As we reported last year, angry fans took to Change.org to create a petition to fire the writers of the show and rehire Cavill soon after the announcement, and that petition is still getting signatures today!
The Witcher fans are still not over Henry Cavill’s exit
Gaming Bible recirculated the petition this week, which is now up to 328,824 signatures and counting — a whopping 4,027 people signed just today. The petition’s description mentions Sapkowski’s approval of Cavill as Geralt, also claiming the books and video game are “hated by and have actively been mocked by the writers and showrunner.”
That might sound like an exaggeration, but there might be some truth to it. Prior to Cavill leaving the show, writer Beau DeMayo called out The Witcher team in an Instagram Q&A, saying some of the writers “actively disliked the books and games, even actively mocking the source material.”
The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich later denied this claim, saying the books were her “entire livelihood.” It’s not difficult to understand why fans of the series might not fully believe this, however, given how many changes were made.
And while writers have the freedom to take liberties with the source material for an adaptation, the fact that Cavill said he was staying on the series “as long as we can keep telling great stories which honor Sapkowski’s work” and then exited leaves a bad taste in fans’ mouths.
It doesn’t look like there are any new comments on the petition, but the signatures are still rolling in. It doesn’t come as a surprise that there are several other petitions related to The Witcher on the site, with another one asking Netflix to fire Hissrich. A different petition asks the streamer to cast Polish actors, noting the show “borrows heavily from Polish and Slavic folktales/mythology.”
The reason for Cavill’s exit has not been explicitly confirmed by the actor, but it’s easy to speculate. In any case, The Witcher fans will have to get ready for a new leading man to play Geralt whether they like it or not. Hemsworth, best known for The Hunger Games series and movies like Independence Day: Resurgence and The Last Song, might not have been fans’ first or second choice, but he’s got talent. Maybe he’ll surprise these angry petitioners.
The Witcher season 4 will most likely premiere on Netflix sometime in 2025.
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