Henry Cavill’s stint as witcher Geralt of Rivia is, unfortunately, coming to an end. The actor’s last portrayal of the character he made iconic in the Netflix TV series ‘The Witcher’ will be in the upcoming season 3. And it seems the makers are giving him a farewell that is deserving to someone like him, a fan of the books and games.
And what’s that? To keep the season as close to the source material as possible. When a TV series is made out of written source material, one of the main gripes that can come up is if the series ends up straying too far away from the base material. Fans’ displeasure will be something the makers have to be wary of since doing so means also destroying the memories they have associated with the material. And what if one of such ardent fans is the lead star of your series himself? You see the problem, don’t you?
In fact, it is reported that Cavill’s exit from the series is due to the creative differences that have come up between him and the makers during season 2.
Well, this time, the makers will be keeping season 3 more in line with the source material. According to series creator and showrunner Lauren Hissrich, season 3 feels like “the most heroic sendoff” for the lead they could muster. She goes on “What is so interesting is that season 3, to me, is the closest thing that we’ve done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books,” she says. “Obviously, we can’t do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books.”
Season 4 of Witcher will see Liam Hemsworth recast in the role of Geralt. While it would be difficult to accept the change abruptly after watching Cavill as Geralt for over 3 years, it is hoped that Liam would be successful in convincing his portrayal of the iconic Witcher. Well, till then, we have Cavill’s portrayal in season 3 to look forward to. The season is expected to debut in mid-2023.