Will ‘The Witcher’ Survive Cavill’s Departure?

It’s been a whirlwind for Netflix ‘The Witcher’ fans everywhere. After announcing he was leaving the show after the third season, many have mixed feelings about Cavill quitting his excellent time as titular character in The Witcher. Regardless of how we feel, it seems that Cavill won’t be coming back. Not only has it been confirmed that Liam Hemsworth will be taking over the role, Cavill has also secured himself a role in another, different fantasy series. He most certainly won’t be coming back to play Geralt, and he will be sorely missed.

But there is something bigger at stake here than just losing our favorite actor for our favorite Witcher. That is the very fate of the future of The Witcher. Will it survive without Henry Cavill? Here are a few things to keep in mind.

The Video Games Were a Massive Success Without Cavill

The thing is, The Witcher stories have already been successfully adapted in the past. True, they were adapted to a video game. But that video game was massively successful, selling tens of millions of copies around the world. And that was all done without Henry Cavill’s Witcher. In fact, the Witcher in the video games is rather different than the Witcher of the Netflix show. Likewise, both are different than the original Geralt we find in the books. And yet, all three are good representations.

Therefore, it seems possible that the Netflix adaptation could have further success without our favorite actor playing him.

Netflix Can Use This Opportunity to Explore Other Aspects of Geralt’s Character

Geralt is a much more complicated character than you might expect. And there are many aspects of his character that could be focused on differently than they are currently in the Netflix adaptation. Although they leaned into this more in the second and third season, Geralt is actually quite talkative and philosophical. He does not have nearly as hard of an exterior as either Cavill’s depiction nor as the one we are familiar with from the games. If Netflix plays their cards right and allow Geralt to evolve as a character passed Cavill, it could actually help to deepen the character and make him even more rich. Is Liam up for that?

Can Liam Hemsworth Pull it Off?

Although Cavill is a good actor and could very well make his way into being a household name one day, his career has not been without struggles. In fact, he has not quite yet sealed himself in the annals of Hollywood the way his peers like Robert Pattinson have. This is largely due not to his fault as much as his divisive turn as the Caped Crusader, Superman. Although he had some commercial success in the role, critics were less impressed, especially of the almost infamous Batman Vs. Superman. The commercial failure of Justice League hasn’t helped.

Things were so bad on the DC front for Cavill that he has actually been dropped from future Superman movies as Warner Bros tries desperately to head in a more profitable direction.

The Witcher, however, served as a great way to keep Cavil in the minds of the masses, as well as showing off his acting skills apart from being Superman. Undoubtedly this has been great for his somewhat struggling career.

All of that being said, Liam Hemsworth has been struggling arguably even more in his acting career, without any big blockbusters lately to brag about. Playing Geralt could be the redemption he needs, but his mixed track record makes us wonder if he can pull it off.

Cavill’s Departure Could Help Develop Supporting Characters

Although Geralt might be the hero of the story, he is not the only interesting character to be found within The Witcher’s universe. In fact, much of the books are taken up by other, nearly as interesting characters. Ciri, for example, gets a lot of time devoted to her in the later books. Yennefer also gets plenty of time to develop as a character, and she’s pretty badass.

Cavill as a name and as a leading man pretty much overshadowed anyone else in the show. It had to be that way – he was a major reason for the original interest fans had Netflix’s The Witcher. with Cavill gone, other characters could really begin to shine in their own light.

Verdict – ‘The Witcher’ Probably Won’t Survive without Cavill

Despite these faint silver linings, ultimately Netflix has made a massive blunder in letting Cavill get away from them. Whatever the reason for his moving on, it’s a huge failure on their part. They really should’ve given Cavill just about anything he wanted short of ownership of Netflix to keep him, because his show very well could be one of the brightest chances Netflix has of continuing to grow their subscriber base in an increasingly competitive streaming war.

Without Cavill, the show will be sort of a Game of Thrones look alike only instead of John Snow we get a baby Thor wearing a wig.